Update on Diebold / Blind: Racketeering case brewing

[BevHarris]

Update on the story (and photo of Wally O'Dell signing partnership agreement with National Federation of the Blind) on

http://www.blackboxvoting.org

Kelly Gutensohn, a blind mother of eight took it upon herself to file a RICO suit against Diebold, the National Federation of the Blind, and 10 banks. This woman, who is not a lawyer, went up against 14 lawyers for Diebold and the NFB. She survived two dismissal motions, and ultimately, the case was put on hold as the judge told her to get a lawyer helping her.

She contacted the Justice Dept. and was ignored. The case is expected to be re-filed, with professional litigators behind it.

Her case will probably focus on the Diebold / banking situation, as it is difficult to bring in all kinds of issues at once, and making it about voting machines and ATM collusion might make it harder to win.

Gutensohn has performed a valuable role, stepping forward, as a blind individual, against unauditable voting machines. We have also been contacted now by an attorney who is legally blind, who is volunteering to help fight unauditable voting machines.

Bev Harris

[nostamj]

1. thanks for the update

and :kick:

[Andy_Stephenson]

2. Kick

:kick:

[Senior citizen]

3. kick

:kick:

[cheezus]

4. kickety

:kick:

[KamaAina]

5. I'd suggest that you send this to Ragged Edge Magazine

the Time or Newsweek of the disability community, except that Ragged Edge editor Mary Johnson's lips have already turned purple from drinking gallons and gallons of the HAVA/Diebold Kool-Aid:

http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/focus/votetrail0604.html

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE bright promise of fully accessible voting heralded by the Help America Vote Act? As has happened with all the other laws promising access to voting -- the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and amendments to the Voting Rights Act -- disabled people are once again being told to ... be patient and wait awhile.

"How much longer, exactly, I am expected to wait before I am treated like a first-class citizen?" asked feminist and disability activist Ingrid Tischer in an email.

"Make no mistake, voting discrimination is alive and well among the poor and in communities of color, but at least this country has moved on from the shame of Jim Crow and laws barring women from voting. Too bad citizens with disabilities don't merit at least the patina of respect for this critical civil right that zealous enforcement of existing laws would provide."

:puke: :nopity: :puke: :nopity: :puke:

I, for one, resent that the disability community is being used as a fig leaf to drum up support for BBV, which, we now know, is less secure than slots in Vegas (we need to come up with a name to replace "one-armed bandits" :-) )

if (vote = "bush") then
bush = bush + 1
else if (vote = "nader") then
nader = nader + 1
else if (vote = "kerry") then
kerry = kerry + RND(-1)
end if

edit: extra smileys, to capture the sheer maudlin lugubriousness of the quote

[RedEagle]

6. The Disabled Need Real Opportunities...

...not opportunistic 'help' from Diebold.

This is something else- selling the disabled out.

[Trajan]

9. Wouldnt this be correct ? ...

kerry = kerry + INT(RND(-1)*10) ....

[burrowowl]

7. Are the National LWV heads

being sued too?
At our local level people have been againest what the national heads are proning.

[dusty64]

8. Kick!

:kick:

[leftchick]

10. A reporter from the NYT mentioned this at the AEI election...

standards hearing yesterday. It was on c-span most of the morning.

[RedEagle]

11. This story could be huge

And should cause a national outcry.

Just how desparate is Diebold, anyway?

The negative PR from this could be as bad or worse than the Wally O'Dell statement.