Let's start a movement right now to get the voting machine verification situation fixed.

[UCmeNdc]

There is no reason why voting machines cannot be secured and accurately verified with the actual voter's vote. even if we have to go back to paper ballots.

How does one start?

[FrenchieCat]

1. Just keep talking about it...

If you go to any protest, make your sign about voting machine reforms!

Get informed and write to your congressperson, and tweet about it, and look for articles and post them! Also talk to your friends about what you think without fearing them trying to shame you into shutting up about it!

The poll that I took here at DU the other day, showed that 81% believed there was voting machine fraud, while an additional 14% thought fraud was likely, but would need more evidence. Only 17% thought we just lost and nothing fishy happened!

Here's a good forum discussing this!

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/electionintegrity

[KewlKat]

2. whatever avenue we persue, we should include

President Carter. He might consider helping since they monitor elections around the world.

[AmBlue]

11. We have tried that.

The Carter Foundation only monitors elections outside the U.S.

[KewlKat]

12. I'm not talking about "monitoring"

We need guidance on how to pursue election reform. He could give us I would think some tasks to at least start with? First, we should all cast our ballots in the same manner. Next, a paper trail.....etc. and more importantly, some contacts, organization skills, etc.

I remember years ago he said they could not monitor US elections because we don't all cast our ballots in the same manner.

[AmBlue]

3. Go to VerifiedVoting.org

Also, see ElectionVerification.org. There's BEEN a hardworking movement for verifiable elections building since the fiasco election of 2000, trying hard to prevent more fiascos. Unfortunately, people would rather promote candidates than protect the apparatus and laws by which we conduct our elections, so their efforts are always under-funded.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

4. Whatever is done

There needs to be focus and clear objectives. Questions need to be asked to get down to what is really being sought. For starters:

What specifically is the concern about this election? Inaccurate counts, inaccurate tallying, inaccurate transmission of results, vote flipping, electronic hacking, etc.?

What are the specific states that you believe had questionable outcomes?

What is the basis for your concern about specific states? Pre-election polling, exit polling, straying from norm ("that state would never go for Trump/Clinton!!&quot , etc.?

What type of ballots are the questionable states using?

Are there automatic recounts?

If there are automatic recounts, what triggers them?

How are ballots secured, both prior to counting and prior to certification of the election?

How are voting machines secured before and during the actual voting?

During what part of the voting/counting/transmission of results, if any, is there exposure to the internet?

My point is, trying to start a movement of this type is going to require that you be able to show that your concerns are valid, that you've done your homework as to what could have transpired, and that you've exhausted another explanations for your concerns. For example, I was speaking to a friend yesterday who is just certain that Trump stole Michigan, and that it's those damned electronic voting machines, flipping votes, and no paper trail. Except that Michigan uses paper ballots, so there is a paper trail.

[UCmeNdc]

6. Where are the experts on this? Who knows the right questions to ask?

There seems to be no leadership or expertise in this area of concern.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

7. Post #3

shows a group, verifiedvoting.org, and another post under this one also has links.

There is lots of leadership and expertise in this area of concern, you just have to go find it.

[AmBlue]

8. Right now, VerifiedVoting.org is trying to get an audit of the 2016 election

Here is my post to their online petition: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028290636
Go SIGN the petition!

There are I believe 75 states with some form of paper ballots: https://www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier/
Those ballots can be sampled and audited-- and SHOULD be audited (by random sampling) after every election. Let's help build momentum around that! Then we all can help to make sure the remaining states still voting on touch screens or levers get auditable paper ballots as well. This is where our efforts are best invested.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

9. 75 states?

And yes, I agree that the key is either paper ballot or electronic ballot with paper trail.

[AmBlue]

10. Yes! The problem is we don't audit the ballots.

The paper is scanned into digital information and then the election is conducted with the digital information. If the programming that tallies the digital information is wrong (by human error or by malice), we will never know it if we don't conduct audits.

[lostnfound]

13. The onus should be on our government to SHOW us that the machinery and process is transparent

It's ridiculous that our institutions don't create such accountability.

Politicians don't want to raise the issue and look like whiners and losers.

[SticksnStones]

5. Remember Bev Harris?

She's been workin' it since 2003

http://blackboxvoting.org/


Her writing on The Brakey Method gives something to aim for


http://blackboxvoting.org/the-brakey-method/

[red dog 1]

18. plus 1,000

Bev Harris & her website is the one we should all be supporting in any way we can (including financially)

Brad Friedman covers this extremely important issue as well.
http://bradblog.com/

[MineralMan]

14. It has to be done on a state-by-state basis.

People need to focus on this in their own states. Minnesota has clean, accurate elections, because that was insisted on by its citizens. Each state needs to examine its own voting process. Sadly, any changes will require legislation, and Republican legislatures are unlikely to change anything.

[red dog 1]

20. You're absolutely right!

It has to be done on a state by state basis.

Democrats need to create an organization like the Republicans did with their
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

"The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a non-profit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council


If the Democratic Party did create such a non-profit organization, they could have a tremendous impact on state legislatures in all 50 states, and they wouldn't be limited to improving the unverifiable voting machine fraud now taking place in every single election.
ALEC is also responsible for the GOP having many more governorships than the Dems do, while controlling more state legislatures than the Dems, & offices like Lt. Governors, Attorneys General, & Secretaries of State, which are vital for any "fixing" of the current voting machine fraud involving so-called "unverifiable" voting machines.

The Democratic Party has to get off it's ass and learn how to take back the Republican-controlled state legislatures, or there will never be any real "reform" of voting in America.

[Coyotl]

15. That movement been going on since 2000, and we've had some victories.

http://electionintegrity.net/

https://www.verifiedvoting.org/

DU has been part of that movement all along. In NM we showed how rigged the voting was and the law was changed to get rid of the voting machines.

[AmBlue]

16. Yes, NM has had some victories!

In Florida, we got rid of touchscreen voting and now vote on paper ballots, but despite the fact that we wrote audits legislation with the help of experts around the nation and a statistics professor from University of Florida, it was slapped down by our then Secretary of State, Kurt Browning.

Paper ballots are great, but ballots without audits only takes us half way there. We have a lot more work to do.

[Ken Burch]

17. #NoVoterLeftBehind

feel free to use it in the campaign.

[red dog 1]

19. K&R!

http://blackboxvoting.org