EAC Commissioner Martinez Resigns & Advises Audits for all Elections

[papau]

EAC Commissioner Martinez Resigns & Advises Audits for all Elections
by Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA - April 10, 2006
http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1168&Itemid=26

Commissioner Met With Election Activists On Saturday

Commissioner Martinez' Letter of Resignation
http://www.electionline.org/Portals/1/docs/Martinez.resignation.April.10.2006.pdf

The current vice chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Ray
Martinez submitted his resignation to President George W. Bush this
morning. Mr. Martinez' resignation will become effective June 30,
2006. He cited family considerations as his primary reason for
stepping down and lauded his colleagues at the EAC and the agency's
staff for their continued work on behalf of the nation.Martinez had
been recommended for nomination by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle
(D-SD) in 2003.

On April 8, Martinez had met with election integrity activists
participating in a VoteTrustUSA leadership workshop. The Commissioner
graciously and diplomatically fielded a barrage of questions from
leading election refom advocates from across the country for well over
and hour. The questions were challenging and well informed and
reflected the growing crisis facing our democracy.

The day before he spoke at the VoteTrustUSA workshop, Martinez had
presented a paper at a colloquium in Princeton, NJ. The paper
presented four solutions to what he called the"alarming erosion" of
American voter confidence following the last two presidential
elections.

As reported on NJ.com:

"One of the most alarming trends in our country is the continual
erosion of voter confidence in the accuracy of our tabulated results,"
Martinez said.

"The 2000 presidential election has adversely affected the opinion
of the average American on our electoral process. "Since then, voter
confidence has continued to trend in the wrong direction," Martinez
added, "and it's unlikely to fade any time soon." At the top of his
list was the idea that every state perform a regular election audit to
determine that the administration of elections is fair, impartial and
consistent with voter intent. The results of these audits should be
widely dispersed.

Read the full article here:
http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1168&Itemid=26


--------
For a better audit proposal than the one proposed in HR550, because it
is more consistent with the US Constitution because it gives the audit
administration to the states, rather than the US EAC, a federal
agency, see this proposal for Utah:

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/VoteCountAudit-UT.pdf

Kathy Dopp
http://electionarchive.org

=========================================================

the above is from a Kathy Dopp email.

[Flirtus]

1. Kick

[MADem]

2. Family reasons, again???

Or is it that he can't stomach the fraud he sees coming in November????

He'd better do some serious piping up between now and then--maybe spend a little less time with his family, and more on a speaking tour with plenty of media availabilities. If he isn't part of the solution, he's part of the problem.

[hootinholler]

6. Or is it

Quit now and your family won't get hurt.

-Hoot

[goclark]

3. Kick high and Recommend!

[DUHandle]

4. Sounds like Mr. Martinez is a man of ethic

Which makes his resignation tragic, since his replacement will recommended and selected by the ruling party.

[Dhalgren]

5. K&R!

[Amaryllis]

7. He called for much more than audits: conflict of interest oath for vendors

and SOS's.


Martinez also would like to see each state's chief election official take a conflict of interest oath. In it, these political appointees would adopt a voluntary pledge of impartiality, distancing them from the party that appointed them. They would likewise refrain from participating in partisan committees or meetings or raising money for any political groups that would call their credibility into question.



Third, Martinez said all election equipment vendors -- particularly the top tier officers in each company -- should take a similar conflict of interest oath, and that the vendor industry adopt a list of impartiality standards by which vendors must conduct themselves.

[nicknameless]

9. Why do the ethical ones resign?!

We NEEDED him to stay where he was. What psycho will be appointed to replace him?

Arghh!!! :banghead:

[Amaryllis]

10. rumor has it he got flak for saying what he did, but this maybe just rumor

[kster]

8. Kick...nt