National Summit to Save Our Elections - Portland, Sept. 30, Oct. 1 & 2

[Amaryllis]

More information coming this week on workshops and presentations!

See flyer at http://www.oregonvrc.org/files/Summit%20Flyer_B&W.PDF

The right to vote and to have our vote counted as intended is the heartbeat of our democracy.

Today, private corporations with partisan political and financial conflicts of interest count our votes on trade secret software, preventing us from verifying that our votes are counted as intended. America’s elections are thus conducted under conditions that ensure inconclusive results. Our democracy is in peril.

Join some of the nation’s top election
reform activists to explore:

• How corporate-owned electronic election
systems affect your vote and election
outcomes

• How innovative election reform
approaches from around the country are
making a difference

• How you can help to restore citizenship
ownership of our elections

Featured Presenters:

The Honorable Jesse Jackson Jr., U.S. House of Representatives

David Cobb, 2004 Green Party Presidential Candidate

Thom Hartmann, Radio talk show host and author

Bob Koehler, nationally syndicated columnist, Tribune Media Services

Ronnie Dugger, Alliance for Democracy

Cliff Arnebeck, Ohio Honest Elections Campaign

Brad Friedman, The Brad Blog and The Brad Show

Ellen Theisen, VotersUnite

Paul Lehto, Attorney, plaintiff in lawsuit against Sequoia Voting Systems and Snohomish County, WA

For more information and updates on the conference visit
www.Summit.OregonVRC.org

The conference will be held in downtown Portland at the First Unitarian Church, 1011 SW 12th and Portland State University, 724 SW Harrison

Sign up to receive future conference announcements: [e-mail]
Oregon VRC contact information:
503-499-9000 or [e-mail]

Sponsored by:
Oregon Voter Rights Coalition &
Alliance for Democracy - Portland

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. Kick! n/t

[merh]

2. This is a very important conference/workshop!

Thanks for posting Amaryllis!

nominated & kicked to the top! :kick:

[MelissaB]

3. Happily sent to the "greatest".

:kick:

[GuvWurld]

4. Recommended. And more...

I will be conducting a workshop at this conference. It will be about the Voter Confidence Resolution, how you can go back to your town and work to build support for the City Council to pass it, and what it could mean as a significant number of communities question the legitimacy of the government. There have been many DU threads about this. The latest is here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x388444

Also go HERE for more info about the workshop.

[MelissaB]

5. Please tell me this will be filmed.

[Amaryllis]

7. Yes! It will. And if you haven't yet listened to the audio from Thom

Hartmann and Paul Lehto's presentation in Portland on "The Corporate Takeover of America's Elections," it will knock your socks off. In fact, I need to re-post it with a more alluring title.

Thom Hartmann...about 33 minutes

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/realaudio/thartman.ram

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/mp3/thartman.mp3

Paul Lehto....about 32 minutes

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/realaudio/plehto.ram

www.PhilosopherSeed.org/mp3/plehto.mp3

[merh]

8. Great links!

Thanks so much :hi:

[Peace Patriot]

6. Recommended! Thanks for this vital info, Amaryllis! n/t

[pat_k]

9. We can never again tolerate a violation of the principle of consent

We Do Not Concede - In a true America, leaders serve only with the consent of the governed, and that consent must be obtained by lawful elections that accurately measure the will of the voters. We shall not tolerate any violation of this fundamental principle, the SOLE moral tenet on which our nation was founded and has since relied...

Do your representatives in Congress understand the following five points?

1) On January 6th, 2009, each member of Congress has a duty to independently judge the validity of electoral votes and the appointment of electors.

2) There are specific circumstances – circumstances that occurred in the Elections of 2000 and 2004 – that necessitate objection.

For example, the systematic under-allocation of resources alone, which led to the lengthy and well documented wait times in African American neighborhoods, is sufficient to raise an objection.

3) It was a mistake to count the electors appointed pursuant to the incomplete and unlawful elections in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

4) Members of Congress have the power to set the basic standards -- the "frame" – for what constitutes a free and fair election by simply proclaiming their intent to carry out their duty to judge the appointment of electors on January 6, 2009 and communicating the nature of that judgment and the circumstances that would necessitate objection.

5) There is enormous value in declaring their intent regarding presidential electors NOW.

When Congress convenes on January 6th to count the presidential electors, each and every member of the House and Senate are constitutionally charged with serving as our last line of defense against an invalid result. That line of defense must be made impenetrable before the next presidential election.

It took weeks of lobbying to get one brave Senator to see the light and stand up for us on January 6th, 2005. We have three years to reach the rest of them. The time to start working on your representatives is NOW. See Making the Case to Object to Tainted Electors on January 6th.

[wli]

11. I live in PDX, but I'm not sure about all this.

What force do these statements have? Who's listening?

[Amaryllis]

14. I don't understand your question. CAn you be more specific?

[wli]

25. I'm foggy on why I posted that but straining to remember...

I think it was that I thought it likely to get ignored and end up being an exercise in preaching to the choir instead of outreach.

This is my guess from looking at my post. I'm not entirely sure I agree with it now that I look back at it.

[Amaryllis]

26. We're working on outreach. And on making it very oriented toward taking

action, not just informative.

[GuvWurld]

13. Are you guys working on anything with more immediate implications? (eom)

[Amaryllis]

15. What do you mean?

[GuvWurld]

16. I mean...

is the point of the WDNC project now looking 3.5 years ahead with no call to action that will have a more immediate impact?

[Amaryllis]

17. What's WDNC?

[GuvWurld]

18. WDNC = We Do Not Concede (eom)

[Amaryllis]

22. I still don't understand what you are asking me. This conference is

very much oriented toward action and making a difference; many of the presenters are doing things that are having a major impact both nationally and locally.

[GuvWurld]

23. My question was never meant for you, but rather pat_k

pat_k wrote above about We Do Not Concede and a campaign targeting Congressmembers on 1/6/09. I asked if they are working on anything that is more immediately actionable. This question does not necessarily pertain to the conference unless WDNC is participating in some way other than this thread. Not sure how you thought my question was for you, but hopefully it is clear for everybody now ;-)

[Amaryllis]

24. Oh! I see now...I tracked your question up to the wrong line; my eyes

didn't track straight when I looked to see which post you were responding to!

[demodonkey]

10. Kick this to the top -- Everybody Come to Portland!

:kick:

[Carolab]

12. Kick. n/t

[Kip Humphrey]

19. This IS a MOST important event with potential national implications for

the movement. My lips are sealed but if you think back to the Election Assessment Hearing in Houston in June and the stir around the need for a cohesive national strategy for the movement...

Start thinking of who would be good for developing such strategies, is available Sept 30 through Oct. 3rd, can pay their way, and email me at [e-mail]

[kster]

20. Kick.nt

[Land Shark]

21. Kick, but no kickbacks

[kster]

27. I'll see your kick

and I'll raise you a kick.

[Amaryllis]

28. Add to presenters: Kip Humphrey and Clint Curtis:

"Digital for Dummies: The Perils of Electronic Elections," a workshop to teach even the technologically impaired how it all works and how easy it is to hack! So easy a chimpanzee can do it!

[Land Shark]

29. If Lizzie Febble sees this, would she attend or present?

[Kip Humphrey]

30. Give a kick for Portland!