NY'er available for help election day

[MattBaggins]

I can come to Ohio (or Pennsylvania) on election day and provide any assistance that might be needed. Most likely driving people to polling places if any more GOTV drivers might be needed. If anyone feels that an extra hand is useful this late in the game, point me in the right direction.

[aquart]

1. DNC email today: Volunteers Needed

Our office in Washington, D.C. is emptying out every day, as more and more staff members, interns, and volunteers head out into the battleground states. Those left in the office are working harder than ever -- fourteen-hour days have become twenty-hour days as the homestretch of the campaign begins. For the last two years, people have been saying this election is going to come down to the wire, and they are right.

You may not live in a so-called battleground state, but that doesn't mean you can't make the difference on Election Day. We have implemented two critical programs that are going to make a big difference on November 2, and you can start participating in both today:

Kerry-Edwards Phone Corps
As a member of the Kerry-Edwards Phone Corps, you can start helping our volunteer efforts in key battleground states around the country. Members of this dedicated group of supporters make phone calls into battleground states to recruit volunteers for specific events such as canvassing and phone banking.

You can join the Phone Corps and start making calls right now using our easy online tool at:

http://calls.johnkerry.com

Road Trip to Victory
We are looking for dedicated volunteers who are willing to travel to a battleground state this weekend, next weekend, and/or Saturday through Tuesday of election weekend. These volunteers will join the thousands of volunteers already working on the ground who are the core of our field operation.

You can sign up for the Road Trip to Victory by visiting:

http://www.democrats.org/roadtrip

This election is now in your hands. Let's go win another day.

Thank you,
Mary Beth Cahill
Campaign Manager

[Catt03]

2. We can use you in Florida

go to moveon.org or johnkerry.com and sign up.

Come on down!

[MattBaggins]

4. Florida is a bit too far

Sorry if I had more vacation time I would.

[aquart]

3. From Bev Harris:

We are gearing up for the Nov. 2 Election. Here are today’s action items
for Black Box Voting -- simple, easy to do and will give all groups
information on what volunteers can and cannot watch on Election Night in
each county.

A quick toot for other groups:
* www.voteprotect.org -- recommended as comprehensive database for reporting
problems
* www.VoteWatch.org -- recommend participating in polling results and
Mystery Voter projects
* www.VerifiedVoting.org -- recommend TechWatch program
* Let us know what your group is doing, and we’ll toot you the next time
around

Black Box Voting: http://www.blackboxvoting.ORG (“.com” not related to us)

1. Check out the Cleanup Crew election monitoring list -- practical,
effective vote-protection ACTION MENU for pre-election, Election Day,
Election Night, post-election:
http://www.BlackBoxVoting.org/?q=node/view/1196

The page also contains a MAP OF PROBLEM LOCATIONS in the U.S., based on
“voter-unfriendly behavior” by public officials.

2. CAN YOU HELP? We need your help with a quick “Visitation Rights” project.
Find out ahead of time what access citizens will get they get when they show
up to observe vote-counting in each county, identify problem counties.

- Go to Black Box Voting (.ORG). Check out Cleanup Crew info, then go to
CLEANUP FORUM (http://www.blackboxvoting.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi)
- Pick a state.
- E-mail each county the "Visitation Rights?" letter.
- This letter pins down what observers can or cannot watch, whether
videotaping is allowed
- You’ll find the letter in the “TOOL KIT” at the top of the Cleanup Crew
Forum. Contact info is under each county.
- You do not need to live in the county or state to help. We need help
e-mailing letters to as many officials as possible, as soon as possible.
- To avoid duplication of effort, when you send, post update immediately in
the Cleanup forum
- Answers from county officials are getting posted in the forum where
everyone can see them.
- Some counties, like Riverside County CA and Winnebago County IL, may be
targeted for litigation or other actions, because they do not allow
observers for certain key functions.

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

Now for a quick change of subject: Two quick points for Nov. 2:

1 - When people ask, “Do you think there will be problems with the machines
on Nov. 2” the answer is, “I expect there will be problems by Nov. 12.”
Voting machine miscounts typically are not seen until the canvass. The
canvass (audit) will take place from Nov. 3-12.

2 - Candidates need to stop conceding the election on Election Night. Tell
your local political committees and candidates to hold off on their
concession -- there is no reason to hurry, and there are legitimate reasons
to wait:
- We expect an unusual number of provisional ballots this time. Provisional
ballots are not included in media projections.
- Voting machine miscounts typically do not appear until the canvass. Error
rates can be high, and can even flip the totals. Broward County, FL 2002:
103,000 votes were missed altogether the first time around. Gretna County
Nebraska, all “yes” votes were recorded as “no.” Al Gore privately conceded
to George Bush in 2000, based on an erroneous “minus 16,022 votes” from the
GEMS central tabulator which caused the networks to call the election
incorrectly. Urge candidates not to concede on projections or unaudited
results.

WISH LIST: Can you help?
- Seattle office space needed for 4 week election blitz, immediately.
- Our search function doesn’t work on the BlackBoxVoting.org Web site. Can
anyone help?
- We need donations to pay copying for a blitz of upcoming Freedom of
Information requests, which will document many incidents not revealed by
elections officials on Nov. 2. We need to raise $10,000 for this in short
order.
- A lawyer is needed for Riverside to file an injunction to force them to
allow observation of central tabulator and vote handling. They are currently
in violation of California state law by refusing this.
- We need Frequent Flyer miles donations for on-site investigations after
the election
- We need hotel stays for on-site investigations after the election
- Grunt work request -- some states on the Cleanup Forum don’t have counties
broken out, and still need contact information. Texas has over 200 counties.
A boring task, and we’ll love you forever if you jump in on this one.

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

We are still consolidating e-mail opt-in lists, and some are old. Hit reply
and type “Remove” anywhere if you do not want updates between now and the
election.

[Lady President]

5. Please come

We would love to have you in Ohio. Columbus is going to be insanely busy and we could use all the help we can get. I'm sure you've heard about the potential for election fraud here, so a large number of our regular volunteers may have to be poll watchers, instead of normal GOTV. I'm not sure whether I should post the Ohio Dem. Party number and extension or the Kerry HQ online, but if you PM me, I can give you some contact information.

Personally, I'm taking a couple days off work and plan to volunteer until I drop! :)