McPherson Gone Blackwell?

[Einsteinia]

MAKING PAPER TRAILS COUNT?

WHY SHOULD WE DO THAT?

It's distressing to read that our new Schwarzenegger appointed Secretary of State, Bruce McPherson, has decided to oppose Senator Debora Bowen's newest election integrity measure SB370, which would merely allow our paper trails to be counted. Both republicans and democrats of California's Senate and Assembly have approved this "no brainer" good government legislation with their nearly unanimous support.

YOO HOO, MR. McPHERSON, THE FEDERAL COURT HAS ALREADY RULED AGAINST YOU

In an Op Ed piece authored by Bruce McPherson that appeared in the San Jose Mercury on September 9, 2005, we witness the following weak logic:

"My biggest objection in using the paper trail to check voting machine performance is that it denies many in the disabled community the ability to have the same level of confidence in the process that all other voters enjoy."  

See:   http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12599389.htm

Have you noticed?  McPherson's arguments against SB370 are flimsy at best, i.e the paper trail lacks a watermark or appropriate paper weight.   Guess what?  Invisible computerized ballots don't have those security features either. Also, his primary argument that counting paper trails would discriminate against the disabled is unsound and the US federal court on July 6, 2004, concurred. This is an old argument and the federal court has ruled that it is unsound. See:   http://evotingcase.notlong.com


NEWS ALERT: DESPITE LESSONS FROM BLACKWELL, E-VOTING VENDORS ARE WELCOMED INTO OUR ELECTION INTEGRITY CLEAN ROOMS


Interestingly, last month Senator Debora Bowen's SB11 was killed, which would have prevented our Secretary of State and county election officials from receiving monies from electronic voting vendors. Now we, the citizens, are left to wonder where these good folks might be getting their advice.  

McPherson can do better, and I know WE can.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1)  NEED A REPUBLICAN QUICK! We need a republican that supports this good government accountability measure to write an Op Ed pieces saying that support of SB370. Call your good government republicans representatives and implore them to invoke the USDC ruling of July 6, 2004 (linked above) to support an accountable voting system by supporting SB370.

2)  WRITE A PARAGRAPH!  Write a letter to the San Jose Mercury in opposition to the piece that McPherson wrote on September 9th.  Their
address is:

[e-mail]

3) SIGN THIS PETITION: http://www.usalone.com/sb370.htm

[Wilms]

1. Nice work.

Done. Kicked. Thanks.

[Einsteinia]

6. THANKS! I appreciate

the kick. . . .

[RallyInDC]

2. mcpherson is one of them.....

actually mcpherson doesn't agree with an audit trail, because it is not countable the same way a paper ballot is.

I think its real important that it is a VOTER VERIFIED paper ballot....and all the disabled people, and voters can check that ballot to make sure its correct....this is the only position any elected official should have.

including mcpherson....make sure he knows voter verified paper ballots are the only solution

[Einsteinia]

3. Hmmm. The point is the USDC has already

disagreed with the contention that the disabled's ability to check the voter verified paper audit trail ("AVVPAT"), which our former Secty. of State Kevin Shelley got railroaded out of office for and which is to go into effect on January 1, 2006. This argument was ruled as unsound.

If it's function is not that it might be relied upon in the event of an audit or recount, then what is it for?

Also, how are invisible ballots that are currently standard in many places a better situation for the disabled?

[bleever]

4. Nominated. If they can steal California, the whole nation is screwed.

Which may already have happened with the recall election, but if CA gets Texas style redistricting and Ohio-style voting, every last state can forget about having its choice made a difference in a national election.

[Einsteinia]

5. We're not getting anything in 2006 from

civil liberties to the environment if we can't get the frat boy who would be king out of office -AND- that can't happen until we can get the average citizens to wake up to the fact that our democracy has been seriously undermined.

The good news is that we can get it back in one legislative cycle IF only people would realize it IS the mother of all issues.

[autorank]

7. Weak Gov. Bad Move - Nail him, hard RECOMMENDED

Beautiful activism piece! Will do.

[Einsteinia]

14. Thanks! This is so IMPORTANT, because without it we'll

have paperless voting machines with absolutely NO evidence to audit for our current 1% mandatory audit of all precincts. And isn't that convenient? To denounce the paper trail's function as something to be relied upon in the event of an audit is nothing less than a castration of the paper trail safeguard that Kevin Shelley championed and look where that got him--road kill for the GOP bulldozer.

[Helga Scow Stern]

8. Of course he has....wasn't that the reason for getting rid of Shelley?

And now MoveOn is so naive to think we can make a difference by calling Schwarzenegger.

Dear MoveOn member,
California led the nation in requiring all electronic voting machines to print Voter-Verified Paper Records (VVPRs), allowing you to verify your vote is recorded correctly before leaving the voting booth. But Secretary of State Bruce McPherson is trying to gut the law by allowing county election officials to ignore VVPRs in audits and recounts.

The California state legislature has passed a bill insisting verified votes be used in audits and recounts. Now the governor is deciding whether to sign the bill into law or veto it. A veto would undermine public trust in our elections. But his own secretary of state is pushing him to veto S.B. 370, so he needs to hear from the public today.

Can you call the governor and ask him to support S.B. 370 to keep our elections reliable?

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
[phone]
[e-mail]
It's important that we track our impact. Please let us know you're calling, at:

http://www.moveonpac.org/call/?cp_id=94&tg=21&id=5980-1555060-NyTMw0NI4Prm28xxS6zSag&t=1

S.B. 370 would strip verified voting of its teeth by allowing unverified ballots to be used in audits and recounts. Unverified recounts might be easier and quicker, but the whole point is to safeguard against software glitches or fraud, particularly in close races.

The governor can ensure fair elections by signing S.B. 370. Call him today at:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
[phone]
[e-mail]
Thank you for all you do,

[Einsteinia]

9. Just when I was going to give up on

Moveon to help the election integrity cause. I guess better late than never. . .

[RallyInDC]

10. anybody ever seen this?

"Four years ago, Bush and Democrat Al Gore visited Ohio 24 times. Bush won the state by 3.6 percentage points, much closer than expected when Gore made his last appearance in Ohio on Oct. 4 -- more than one month before the election. Bush then also turned his attention elsewhere.

Neither camp made that mistake in 2004, with Bush, Kerry and their vice presidential candidates all spending hard and campaigning hard through the final hours of the campaign.

Most polls closed in Ohio at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after a day that included judical rulings, long lines and angry voters.

In tiny Gambier northeast of Columbus, students at Kenyon College napped, snacked and watched movies on laptop computers as they waited seven hours to cast ballots on two electronic voting machines. Some voters were told they might not get to vote until 3 a.m., NBC News reported.

Polling places remained open as long as voters were in line at 7:30 p.m, NBC 4 reported.

The Franklin County Board of Elections said late Tuesday afternoon that voter turnout was exceeding expectations and that there will be a record turnout in the county.

The focus of this election year was on the race for president, but there were many important local issues on ballots in Central Ohio, NBC 4 reported."

http://www.nbc4i.com/politics/3883453/detail.html

what does that mean? it looks like ohio's vote turnout was the highest....and favored kerry, so how did the fraud work...

[Einsteinia]

11. Hmmm, I must be tired and missing something, BUT

are you asking us, people of the DU, how was fraud perpetuated in 2004?

I must not understand you. . . . Please clarify.

[Einsteinia]

12. L.A. "Sing-In" & McCormack rides again. . . .

"Sing- in" Serenade at front of Scwarzenegger's LA Office: 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock Tuesday, 9/13, Wednesday, 9/14, Thursday, 9/15, etc. until he signs SB370 -- Sen. Bowen's bill requiring a paper-not electronic tally -- recount in the event of a contested election.

Without a paper trail, cheating is easy- we could end up with Scharwarzenegger Forever and all his initiatives if we don't insist on the integrity of the  vote!

Gov. Schwarzenegger's Office:
300 S. Spring
Los Angeles, CA  (downtown LA- 3rd and Spring Street)
*Also- CALL HIS OFFICE TO TELL HIM SIGN SB370  NOW!
[phone]

Also, I heard reported that Conny McCormack's photo is on the Diebold website! She is the LA County Recorder (in charge of buying voting equipment). How can we find out if she got paid to do this? Of course, if so, it's likely it wasn't an "on the books" sorta transaction. . . . Ideas?

[Helga Scow Stern]

13. Thanks, Einsteinia, I called!

The woman who answered the phone was cordial, but needed to be prompted as to which bill SB370 is.

[Amaryllis]

15. Kick

[Einsteinia]

16. Schwarzenegger has until October 9th to sign this. . . .

If he does NOT sign it, it will be default become law.

However, word out now is that is unlikely. . . .

Please spread the word. If California succeeds in getting a paper trail, which is permitted to be counted in the event of a recount or audit as this SB370 mandates,
THEN California will provide an example of the first level of integrity needed for REAL accountability in our U.S. elections.

And, when good people are dying in the name of democracy overseas, it just seems like we might want to have a bona fide democracy over here. What a concept!

[Einsteinia]

17. ALERT: REVERSE DIEBOLD 99-TO-1: LET'S TAKE ACTION HERE

n/t

[Einsteinia]

18. Keep this link alive until he signs!

[Einsteinia]

19. OCT. 8TH IS THE LAST DAY THE ACTOR-IN-CHIEF

CAN VETO. LET'S KEEP THIS IMPT. ALERT ALIVE UNTIL THEN. . . .

[TheStates]

20. Is he really saying there is no way to count the paper record?

Is he saying that or is he saying we need a real auditable paper record? I can't tell, someone please summarize.

[Einsteinia]

21. Here's a summary link

which has an unbelievable quote from McPherson and the federal court, etc., that summarizes the whole outrage:

http://www.califelectprotect.net

[Einsteinia]

22. Message: What are they trying to hide?

n/t/

[Einsteinia]

23. Mark Crispin Miller is absolutely WRONG when he says

paper trails are NOT the solution.

He's making a false dichotomy.

Short Term Solution: Many election integrity activists, such as myself, believe that what happens in the "black tunnel" after our paper ballots are dropped into the hole, as long as we do an audit check when the ballots (or audit trails) come out of the tunnel that we'll have a 99%+ chance of showing if there's been any shenanigans in the black tunnel. If so, we can ask for a 100% hand random recount. By analogy, we have infinite ways to contaminate a municipal water system, but as long as we do sample checks of the end product before using it, we're generally pretty safe.

Long Term: That isn't to say, that we need to work on the "black tunnel" with ideas like OVC; however, they are all solutions that are at least two years away.

Conclusion: We're two moves from checkmate, and we REALLY don't have that much time.

I say make an audit protocol in the coming year AND also put some real windows in the black tunnel.

[Einsteinia]

24. Gotta keep this link alive until October 6th

n/t

[Einsteinia]

25. Just in--Also, a Department of Justice Memo

also precisely refutes the disabled argument of disenfranchisement to oppose paper trails. Warning: E-Voting vendors, you're running out of places to hide.