2006 E-Voting Train Wreck: Are we making headway or losing the battle?

[Amaryllis]

The Approaching 2006 E-Voting 'Train Wreck' - Are We Making Headway or Losing The Battle?
By John Gideon, VotersUnite.org and VoteTrustUSA
April 23, 2006
While We Continue to Connect the Dots the Media Continues to Fail To…

It is a fact that this primary season is proving to be a disaster.

The locomotives of the voting machine vendors and unwary, naive elections officials are headed down the same tracks, straight towards each other, in many states. The vendors only have the bags of government provided cash in sight and they don't seem to care about anything but putting those bags into their coffers. They don't seem to care about signing contracts that they know they cannot meet. They seem to be under the impression that "act now and apologize later" is good business. They seem to understand that the only criteria for getting paid for contracts with the government is having signed the contract.


As for the elections officials well, they are blinded by the lights of the fast approaching locomotive and many can only apologize and cover for the vendors. They just don't seem to know, or care – or acknowledge that they either know or care -- that the same story is playing out in the next county over and in the next state over. Ignorance is supposed to be bliss, but it also spells chaos for elections.


But wait, all may not be lost. This past week we have seen a bit of progress toward stopping the chaos of ES&S in Indiana and Oregon, while West Virginia just doesn't seem to know or care what is happening to them. As well, New Jersey may be making headway against their bad acting vendor, Sequoia Voting Systems…

http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1220&Itemid=1032

[bullimiami]

1. Im afraid it will be obvious that there is widespread tampering.

and im more afraid that we will just let them steal the congress from us again and do nothing to stop it.

[pat_k]

2. Stop Election Thieves RIGHT NOW -- No Legislation Required (Really)

Tha battles that are being fought in the courts and legislatures are critical, but our focus has been on creating a "backstop" by helping people to understand that, whatever the outcome of our legal and legislative efforts, citizens have the power to stop the corruption of upcoming elections.

As reprehensible as it was, we can draw a lesson from the riot Delay orchestrated to stop the Dade recount. We don't need to model thier thuggery, but we do need to "get" the fact that a small group of determined citizens can exert powerful influence on local election officials.

To this end, we're calling on people put their local election officials on notice that "We will not accept the results of an election that is incapable of giving us confidence in the results and we will do everything in our power to hold you personally responsible if you implement (or have implemented) such a system.

In case you're interested, here's the "call to action" we're putting out there:


Stop Election Thieves RIGHT NOW -- No Legislation Required (Really)

[GuvWurld]

3. Right on pat_k!

This is what I've been writing about too, in Blueprint For Peaceful Revolution which is now also part of my book We Do Not Consent (both are free .pdf downloads). A powerful similarity I see is that we're both promoting the idea that election reform is not an end goal but rather a tactic toward shifting the balance of power between We The People and the government. That shift is my definition of peaceful revolution.

The thing I've been grokking on lately is that my private communications are not private, my public demonstrations may land me in a "free speech zone," and for no reason at all I could be jailed indefinitely without charges or access to an attorney. Even our best case scenarios for election reform will not change the fact that we are not a free People.

Nobody will doubt I am as devoted to fair elections as anyone else. However, as a movement, we need an overarching shift in our collective sense of direction. We need to be able to have the conversation about exactly how to prevent people from taking office when they neither won a legitimate election nor even participated in one. The approach described on your site is totally consistent with the GuvWurld Blog and opens the door here for a conversation I've been seeking to engage.

Have any locally elected officials come over to your side? How many people do you have in solidarity to make the bold stand you describe?

[pat_k]

6. We've been promoting "Challenge Poisonous Notions" in various forms

-- started November 7, 2004 with Restoring Sanity Point-by-Point and We Do Not Concede. These became part of our Declaration of Intent project. We know that thousands of letters with the declaration attached were faxed though our Capwiz portal. Countless more were delivered in some other form. During Q&A at Conyer's hearing started read it into the record, but ended up having to settle for submitting into the written record.

We use our mailing list very selectively, occasionally promoting efforts that other groups are undertaking. Like other groups, we try to motivate list members to call and write, but our central mission is to recruit citizen lobbyists -- people who will set up face-to-face meetings with their Senator or Rep -- and provide the support they need to be effective. There is no substitute for face-to-face dialog, where you can elicit and challenge their rationalizations for dereliction of duty.

We differ from many other groups -- ours is not a numbers game. We are cherry picking individuals and helping them accomplish specific tasks. For example, lobby Senator X to filibuster Alito, to co-sponsor censure, or to fight to impeach bushcheney.

Our approach to motivating action involves identifying and challenging the beliefs that are blocking action. The basic approach is the same whether we are lobbying members of Congress to take action, or seeking to motivate people to act in their civic capacity. (For thoughts on the barriers to citizen action, see Herding Cats)

"Stop Election Thieves Right Now" was pulled together a couple weeks ago specifically to counter the immobilizing cynicism and hopelessness we are seeing expressed in public forums -- particularly as the "clock runs out" on legislative and legal efforts.

We are casting the ideas and recommended actions in "Stop Election Thieves" on the virtual waters to challenge the hopelessness that immobilizes. We're getting positive feedback that the ideas are serving the purpose we intended -- i.e., challenging the belief that we are powerless. Since we have not created a supporting infrastructure to track and follow up, we won't know if people use it to organize local action.

Even if few act on it, chipping away at the notion that "there's nothing I can do" can shift the dynamics and make people less likely to remain silent in the face of self-evident wrongs, as they did in 2000 and 2004.

We've virtually crossed-paths with you and your efforts on a few occasions. We are always on the look out for leaders and groups who are be better equipped to organize local groups -- particularly in "high risk" jurisdictions. Perhaps there are people in your network who would be up for organizing a local "Put Our Election Officials on Notice" campaign?


---------------- recent drafts ---------------------

Impeachment has been getting more of our attention.

http://january6th.org/drafts.html

http://january6th.org/impeachment_candidates.html

http://january6th.org/recall_sen_roberts.html

Took a little "immigration" detour:

http://january6th.org/borders.html

--------- oldies but goodies ---------------

http://january6th.org/jan6points.html

http://january6th.org/acosta.html

http://january6th.org/post_of_the_week.html#pmk

[Amaryllis]

4. You should start a thread on this, based on your link.

[pat_k]

5. Shall do! I do periodically put it up, haven't for awhile. . .

. . .Will start a discussion on Mon or Tue when I have more time to tend it!