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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-03-04 02:20 AM
Original message
BBV: January 2004 Action Plan
Edited on Sat Jan-03-04 02:24 AM by GregD
I'm re-posting this response that I offered in another thread - I'm hoping folks will take this to heart and become engaged in this effort. December has been rather slow in the land of BBV advocacy, and we are hoping folks will kick it back into gear; time is quickly advancing.

Needless to say, others may have further requested actions, but the following discussion covers projects we had in progress as we entered the Holiday season, and we are hoping you will rejoin these efforts to advance the cause.

Please keep in mind that this is seriously a non-partisan issue. Regardless of your worries concerning BFEE and so on, please don't frame this as a partisan issue, or we won't get the bills passed. And seriously - it is NOT a partisan issue. Anyone can lose with these machines, simply through program error or system malfunction (notwithstanding any purposeful mischief), and we have instances of both sides losing in recent elections because of these machines.

If we cannot rely upon the accuracy of the count, no matter what our political persuasion might be, how can we possibly hope for our voice to be heard. This issue has to be soundly resolved, and it needs to happen this year.


Public Hearings and Town Hall Meetings
======================================
If you are in CA, please attend the Jan 15 meeting in Sacramento when the next phase of the CA/Diebold audit will be revealed. At the December meeting, we were outnumbered by Diebold and ESS staff - that has got to be reversed this time!

And there are upcoming forums in Atlanta and Texas - dates/locations tbd.

HR2239 & S1980
==============
Many of you spent time last year working on securing Congressional support for HR2239, and asking Senators to introduce a similar bill. Well, S1980 (Graham FL-D) is a virtual photocopy of HR2239 (Holt NJ-D). Not perfect, but a good start.

We need them passed, as soon as possible, and there are ongoing initiatives that you can help with.

1) Graham and Holt both want us to present endorsements of organizations who support these bills. These organizations already have signed on http://www.verifiedvoting.org/endorsers_s1980.asp and organizations that wish to support the bills should use this form http://www.verifiedvoting.org/hr2239_s1980_add_endorsement.asp

2) There are still 3 weeks until Congress returns to session, and we need you to go see your legislators (whether they have advocated a position on this or not) and express your concern. It's amazing how those people lose touch with what WE want when they return to the beltway. So go see them and talk about it. If you determine that your legislator is available for meetings, or attending a public event, there is a link to report that information on the state pages here: http://www.verifiedvoting.org/states.asp

3) We always need phone calls and letters to be sent to legislators, and you should be telling everyone you know about this issue.


University Campaign
===================
We have a volunteer who is developing a campaign to get university students, nationwide, involved in a petition gathering effort. The goals of this effort will be to gain significant numbers of signatures, while communicating the BBV message as wide as possible. We need to develop wider awareness of this issue before it is too late to do anything about it. If you would like to be involved in this campaign, please contact us; we need folks all over the country for this one.


Election Monitors
=================
It seems inevitable that there will be a need for nationwide election observers - everywhere we possibly can place them. Building such a campaign will be a significant effort, and will need to be formed as a bi-partisan effort. We are in discussions concerning such a plan, and may have more to report as those plans advance. If you have ideas on how to implement this, please contact us and we will connect you with other interested parties.

This effort needs to start right away, as it will involve creating and documenting guidelines, recruiting volunteers, conducting training sessions, and so on. This project alone will likely take all year to implement.


Voter Registration
==================
Make sure EVERYONE you know gets out and votes. That means you must make certain NOW that they are all registered and aware of the importance of this election. So please get involved in voter-registration efforts, as this will help regardless of the e-voting issue.


Let us know if you have ideas, questions, etc.


www.VerifiedVoting.org
contact@verifiedvoting.org
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creativelcro Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-03-04 12:38 PM
Response to Original message
1. KICK
KICK
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ithacan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-03-04 12:44 PM
Response to Original message
2. BBV Devpts. in NY State Legislature: Important
The NYS Assembly passed a great bill almost unanimously (that is, bipartisan support) in the last session, A8847, in June 2003. But the Senate did not have a cosponsor.

Here are details I posted at the bbv.org site: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID60/8.html

Apparently there are now behind-the-scenes stuff going on and a new bill will be introduced in late Jan or early Feb.

The assembly seems pretty firm on voter verified paper ballots, but it's unclear what is going on in the Senate.

If you live in NY State, contact your state senator and demand that they sponsor a bill with all of the provisions of A8847, that is, a voter verified paper trail, a mandatory random audit, etc. And it wouldn't hurt for Assembly members to hear from constituents on this issue too.
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alfredo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-03-04 01:10 PM
Response to Original message
3. today I am writing an Open Records Request for info
on the voting machines used in Kentucky. The Election commission said they did not have the software versions or the firmware versions for any of the machines. I want them to find the info or say in writing that they do not have the info.

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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-04-04 01:34 AM
Original message
Thanks Alfredo - keep it up!
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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-04-04 01:34 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. Thanks Alfredo - keep it up!
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dusty64 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-04-04 09:57 AM
Response to Original message
5. Kick.
:kick:
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RedEagle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-04-04 06:05 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Common guys, help out
Kick!
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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-05-04 11:32 AM
Response to Original message
7. Kick
it into gear folks! We need to take advantage of the remaining days before Congress returns from recess.

Please! Call your legislators and ask them to support HR2239/S1980

Thanks
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RedEagle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-05-04 01:43 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. Actions speak louder than words
Let's not just talk here, walk the walk!
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RedEagle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-05-04 09:16 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. Both sites are rockin'
Not only Secretaries of State with well financed PR can,
"Rock the Vote."

Kick!
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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-06-04 11:51 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. And we cannot pray to do this alone! We need all of you!
Please folks:

1) We have 2 weeks left before our "leaders" scurry back to the beltway.

2) I figure if we don't get the bills passed right away, within February or early March, we will literally play hell trying to get stuff implemented by Nov 2004. There just won't be time. They are running the clock down on us...

3) There are all these DU posts about what happens if Bush wins, what if this, what if that. Well, YOU acting on this issue is in YOUR hands right now. If this does not get done, don't blame people who DID try if YOU did not.

We need you to tell EVERYONE you know, and all those people have to understand the need to pass the word as far as they can.

Here's an idea: I made some business cards with a $40 label-printing program (http://www.myfamilysoftware.com/mysofmylab.html). If anyone has (or will obtain) that program, I can send the file to you.

So - If I am at the grocery store, I hand out cards. If I am on a hiking trail, I'm stopping people and handing them out. When I buy gas I get rid of a few. Folks, we all need to be really proactive on this one - it has to occupy your daily lives, it has to be the center of your attention, it has to literally become an obsession.

Why? Because without that level of commitment, I will wager you that we won't get these bills passed. There simply STILL does not appear to be enough public demand. YOU, ME and EVERYONE WE KNOW have to be creating the news since the media has not. And those who oppose us have a lot more money. But we have the numbers, but it will take tons of effort to make up for the lack of media coverage.

Keep in mind that this one is easy to talk about to ANYONE who votes if you keep the story non-partisan, as it truly is and must remain. It doesn't matter who they vote for, everyone wants their votes counted fairly and accurately.

So please, get busy! Talk about this to everyone you encounter, and set the country on fire over this issue.

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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-07-04 07:49 PM
Response to Original message
11. HR2239 now has 102 with 5 Republicans.
I don't have the other new names yet, but this is straight from Holt's office. HR2239 is now at 102, and we have our 5th Republican - Tom Petri (WI). Way to go Wisconsin!

Thank him!
http://www.house.gov/petri/
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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-08-04 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
12. Tuesday kick
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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-09-04 12:32 PM
Response to Original message
13. back up
kick
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reprehensor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-09-04 12:58 PM
Response to Original message
14. Le Kick.
Oui, oui, le kick.
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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-09-04 02:35 PM
Response to Original message
15. I was on Thom Hartman today!
http://www.thomhartman.com

Bernie Sanders (VT-D) was on, and a bunch of callers talking about electronic voting. We talked about how to get the bills (HR2239 and S1980) passed. He made a couple points.

1 - Get groups of people together, go to your Representative's or Senator's offices, and talk to their staff.

2 - Make it clear that this is a "make or break" issue - either they support the bills, or we pull our votes from our respective legislators.

So please, form a coalition of folks interested in this issue, set a time, and go see the staff and get this message out. And do it soon. If these bills don't get passed into law EARLY in the session, it becomes harder and harder to hope that they will take effect by November.

And when you have done so, please report in with us so we can keep track of which legislators have received visits.

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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-12-04 01:00 AM
Response to Original message
16. page 16...
Who's gonna start making calls tomorrow?

We need constant pressure on all legislators who are not yet a cosponsor to get onboard with this issue, or face replacement when their term ends.

No compromise, no prisoners. They vote for these bills or we vote them out!
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Lauren2882 Donating Member (313 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-12-04 01:16 AM
Response to Original message
17. KICK (eom)
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JohnGideon Donating Member (492 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-12-04 12:52 PM
Response to Original message
18. Action Needed in Calif. kick
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JohnGideon Donating Member (492 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-12-04 10:28 PM
Response to Original message
19. Kick this again
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BeFree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-12-04 11:46 PM
Response to Original message
20. Thanks Greg, et al
Question:

What advances have been made in being able to view the source code?

Are lawyers looking into suing for the right? Or are Diebold and the rest willing to let experts look over the code? (HA!)

I realize each state has differing codes and the exams will be numerous, but how else, short of paper and pencil will be ever be sure?
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