Our election reform group has an OFFICIAL NAME!

[Jo March]

After a free and transparent election, the voters have chosen. Our election reform group will now be known as:

VOTE - Voters for Open and Transparent Elections

I think that it has a nice ring to it.

I will be contacting our graphic artists who have volunteered their design skills sometime today. We can now get started on the following:

1. Designing a logo.
2. Getting a website.
3. Branding our organization (color scheme, fonts, etc.)
4. Moving forward with action items such as networking with other Progressive groups, rounding up the troops, etc.

This is the start of something big. If anyone wants to join up, please PM one of the following:

arnheim
katinmn
mordarlar

Thank you so much for voting and participating so far. We are going to kick some serious right-wing butt!!!

[ClassWarrior]

1. Nice choice, arn...

The mission is contained in the name. Excellent.

NGU.

[cyberpj]

2. Cool!

[Brentos]

3. Awesome!

I love the name!

-Brentos, the Freshmaker

[bear425]

4. I love it! n/t

[keepthemhonest]

5. Ok good arnhiem

mak you put a place on the website for people to donate.

[mordarlar]

6. looking good arnheim : D

[helderheid]

7. I just threw this together

just to get an idea

[mirandapriestly]

10. LOVE it................................n/t

[helderheid]

13. thanks!

[FogerRox]

12. nice--very nice-- http://www.udpc.org/vote.gif

[helderheid]

14. Thanks!

I am the webmaster for udpc.org :)

[helderheid]

16. is it better in Orange?

Or I could change the fill in VOTE to orange and the other switch that to the flag.

Again, these are just ideas - steal em if you like em, don't if you don't! :)

[Jo March]

28. I believe you just volunteered to help with our logo

:evilgrin:

[helderheid]

38. hee hee

I guess I did! :P

[katinmn]

37. I like it!

We have to reclaim the flag, too, and these colors do it nicely.

[NationalEnquirer]

8. Sweet!

I still dont know what happened in this election, I dont know who really "won", but I do know this, from reading all the stuff and links here on DemocraticUnderground.com, that the SYSTEM IS BROKEN! This thing WILL have legs, because I know alot of not-too-political people who even if they dont think the election was stolen, the DO think the system is fruked up!

I even think you can get some republicans on board. I know some republicans at work who think its the democrats who always cheat, so they would go along with reform. Hey, whatever it takes! This should be a non-partisan issue.

[mirandapriestly]

9. That is the best name

you guys are doing a really good job.

[L. Coyote]

11. Excellent, n/t

[Miami Liberal]

15. Good name. n/t

[buddysmellgood]

17. Beautiful. Take a look at www.Nov3.us and click on the Voters Bill of

Rights. Should VOTE adopt this or something similar?

[Beth in VT]

18. I am the one who suggested the name - glad you guys like it!! n/t

[helderheid]

19. LOVE it Beth!

Ya done good!

[frictionlessO]

20. I will be migrating over, as thankyoupatriot begins to fly on its own!

cant wait!! I am so... so... activated! I guess. Im full on fire more than I ever have been!

Lets kick it!

[Zan_of_Texas]

21. So yell if you want....

But why start another organization when there are already so many?

Just my opinion, but I see the need for more coordination, not more groups......

What will this new group have that the others won't?

Just asking.

Some of the others.....

The Alliance for Democracy The organization was founded by journalist Ronnie Dugger, who wrote one of the first major pieces warning of voting machine flaws, in 1988. Cliff Arnebeck is also a leader in this organization -- he's a litigant in the contest of elections in Ohio's Supreme Court. http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/

C.A.S.E. -- Citizens' Alliance for Secure Elections
http://www.caseohio.org

Ohio Recount, especially NE Ohio
http://ohio-recount.info/

Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)
www.freepress.org

Green Party
www.votecobb.org
The Greens and Libertarians raised over $200,000 to run the Ohio recount -- still raising money and helping mobilize 3000 volunteers needed in Ohio. Cobb and Badnarik are represented by John Bonifaz, General Counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute and Ohio attorney Nancy Holland Myers. Now calling for recount in NM.
Lawsuit update: http://www.caseohio.org/lawsuits.htm
Daily update: http://www.votecobb.org/recount/daily_update/

Voters Unite
www.votersunite.org
has a growing collection of over 2000 articles on voting anomalies in the November 2004 election. Also, a map of where these happened in the US. And, a great map of problems in Ohio: http://www.votersunite.org/info/mapflyerohio2004.pdf I think they also have some chapters around the country, but not sure.

Evidence of Possible Election Fraud
http://shadowbox.i8.com//stolen.htm

Coalition Against Election Fraud
http://www.caef.us/

Election Protection Coalition http://www.electionprotection2004.org Multicultural coalition of dozens of organizations. Over 15,000 problems reported to their hotline on election day; over 25,000 volunteers mobilized. Note collection of stories at http://www.electionprotection2004.org/edaynews.htm

Vote Fraud News compendium of articles http://www.votefraudnews.com/news/index.php

51 Capital March and new activities http://www.51capitalmarch.com/

Black Box Voting.org
www.blackboxvoting.org
Bev Harris doing multi-state audit and forensic work on elections.

Help America Recount, a 527 working with the National Ballot Integrity Project and BlackBoxVoting.org to raise funds for recounts, audits and court challenges in Florida & fraud audits in New Mexico. www.helpamericarecount.org http://www.ballotintegrity.org

Votergate -- 30 Minute video, free online, of voting anomalies, etc. http://www.votergate.tv

Votewatch
http://www.votewatch.us
Wants $250,000 to do a professional statistical analysis of the election which can be used as hard evidence of fraud

Verified Voting.org
www.verifiedvoting.org

Stolen Election 2004
current list of protests etc. http://stolenelection2004.com/demos.html

Where's the Paper Trail for Each Ballot Cast?
Shows you how a voting machine can run a test one way, and a real election another way Excellent introduction to the problem of electronic voting machines.
http://wheresthepaper.org/

Contest the Vote petition drive
http://www.contestthevote.org/

True Majority
www.truemajority.org
founded by Ben of Ben & Jerry's fame

Electronic Freedom Foundation
www.eff.org
Moving under the Open Records Act, which allows people to see government records, to gather information, including the impoundment of voting machines, in some counties in Florida, Ohio, New Mexico and Pennsylvania that had serious problems with the machines. Local counsel are needed to help with this effort. Contact Cindy Cohn at [e-mail]

N.C. Coalition for Verifiable Voting
www.ncvoter.net

Untested: Recount Ohio http://www.recountohio.org/ The New Leaders Council and the Progressive College and University Project launched Recount Ohio.org, a grassroots advocacy campaign that will build awareness and mobilize support for a recount in Ohio.

Audit the Vote
http://www.auditthevote.org/links.jsp

Voting Integrity Project
http://www.usvip.org/

News feed from Britain
<http://www.newsnow.co.uk/newsfeed/?name=Ohio+Recount>

News article consolidator:
http://nov2truth.org/staticpages/index.php?page=headlines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More state's groups:

California Voter Foundation
http://www.calvoter.org/

Prove It on Paper -- Madison, Wisconsin http://www.proveitonpaper.org/

Texas Safe Voting
http://www.safevoting.org

Bloomington Peace Action Coalition
nice document summarizing Ohio election fraud: The Case for Fraud in Ohio Election 2004
http://www.bpac.info/OhioFraud.html


<http://indyvoter.org>/

[Beth in VT]

24. You're right - we need as much consensus and clarity as possible -

a lot of little groups with separate agendas will create a lot of confusion and have a diluted impact. Not the most efficient way to go about things.

[Jo March]

32. Beth in VT, I'm glad you asked

I agree that there are so many groups out there already. What do all of these groups have in common?

DU!

DU's group, VOTE, will participate in the work towards election reform but we will be the link between all of the other groups, allowing us to get "all hands on deck!" so to speak, and get all of the groups working together.

Picture this: An election bill comes up for a vote in the House. We don't want it to die. VOTE springs into action, contacting our list of Progressive groups and sending out the word.

VOTE's media contact people spring into action and start blasting out using the media blasters. They also contact other Progressive groups that are contained in our Media Contacts database.

VOTE's Election Officials contact people spring into action and alert the other Progressive groups, alerting them of the bill. We contact those EO in our database and start calling, faxing, writing and emailing.

We don't just have ten groups here and there working on the same things. We have HUNDREDS of groups working. That translates into hundreds of thousands of Progressive voices!

That is what we need to do.

Also, we will be collecting a list of Progressive groups in a database instead of in a list somewhere. This way we can create custom lists and query for voting records.

We'll do the same for the media.

We'll do the same for volunteers so we can capture who does what so when we need anything, like a graphic designer, we can query our contacts database and see who we have in the database who would be willing to work.

We'll be organized and able to mobilize quicker.

If you have any other questions, please PM me. :)

Arnheim

[cyberpj]

27. re: What will this new group have that the others won't?

After thinking about this I have to say I agree.

We DO need someone to coordinate all the various election groups, not another one. What will we do that someone else isn't already doing?

Just asking.

[Jo March]

30. Guys, I'm glad that you asked!

I agree that there are so many groups out there already. What do all of these groups have in common?

DU!

DU's group, VOTE, will participate in the work towards election reform but we will be the link between all of the other groups, allowing us to get "all hands on deck!" so to speak, and get all of the groups working together.

Picture this: An election bill comes up for a vote in the House. We don't want it to die. VOTE springs into action, contacting our list of Progressive groups and sending out the word.

VOTE's media contact people spring into action and start blasting out using the media blasters. They also contact other Progressive groups that are contained in our Media Contacts database.

VOTE's Election Officials contact people spring into action and alert the other Progressive groups, alerting them of the bill. We contact those EO in our database and start calling, faxing, writing and emailing.

We don't just have ten groups here and there working on the same things. We have HUNDREDS of groups working. That translates into hundreds of thousands of Progressive voices!

That is what we need to do.

Also, we will be collecting a list of Progressive groups in a database instead of in a list somewhere. This way we can create custom lists and query for voting records.

We'll do the same for the media.

We'll do the same for volunteers so we can capture who does what so when we need anything, like a graphic designer, we can query our contacts database and see who we have in the database who would be willing to work.

We'll be organized and able to mobilize quicker.

If you have any other questions, please PM me. :)

Arnheim

[katinmn]

29. That's exactly what we're going to do -- coordinate

For example, when a new bill comes up relating to election reform, or another need for a action becomes apparent, we are going to be alerting all the groups and we will share info for the most impact.

Many groups have long lists of links, but no one has a truly comprehensive list. And neither will we. But one of our goals is to expand our networks, share resources, and keep communication channels open.

Some groups have just 10-100 members, others like DU have 20,000 active members. Others have more. If we all act in unison, we can't be ignored.

[Jo March]

33. katinmn, you have the gift of clarity!

It only took you 3 paragraphs when it took me way more!

Thanks.

Hey, I'm going to PM you.

[Jo March]

31. Zan_of_Texas, glad you asked!

I agree that there are so many groups out there already. What do all of these groups have in common?

DU!

DU's group, VOTE, will participate in the work towards election reform but we will be the link between all of the other groups, allowing us to get "all hands on deck!" so to speak, and get all of the groups working together.

Picture this: An election bill comes up for a vote in the House. We don't want it to die. VOTE springs into action, contacting our list of Progressive groups and sending out the word.

VOTE's media contact people spring into action and start blasting out using the media blasters. They also contact other Progressive groups that are contained in our Media Contacts database.

VOTE's Election Officials contact people spring into action and alert the other Progressive groups, alerting them of the bill. We contact those EO in our database and start calling, faxing, writing and emailing.

We don't just have ten groups here and there working on the same things. We have HUNDREDS of groups working. That translates into hundreds of thousands of Progressive voices!

That is what we need to do.

Also, we will be collecting a list of Progressive groups in a database instead of in a list somewhere. This way we can create custom lists and query for voting records.

We'll do the same for the media.

We'll do the same for volunteers so we can capture who does what so when we need anything, like a graphic designer, we can query our contacts database and see who we have in the database who would be willing to work.

We'll be organized and able to mobilize quicker.

If you have any other questions, please PM me. :)

Arnheim

[mzmolly]

22. Awesome!

:toast:


You all rock!

[kitkat65]

23. Sorry, folks, I have to agree...

Organization and coordination between all these different groups are going to be the key to your efforts to get it done.

You should have some kind of summit meeting with the organizations that Zan has listed to discuss a strategy that draws on each groups strengths. For instance, one org. might be better at legislation issues, while one might be better at marketing skills, while one might be better at community outreach, while one might be better at research, etc.

To make my point consider this: I worked with an organization to get out the democratic vote in 2004. Within this organization, they kept sending different people out into neighborhoods who were unaware of the existence of each other. And then this same organization had a different set of people calling the voters. The outcome was that these voters were contacted at least 3 or 4 times which many of the voters found irritating, if not harassment. Compound this with the fact that other organizations were trying to accomplish the same thing which resulted in them not even recognizing or remembering the names of he organizations that contacted them. I'll never forget one woman's comment to me on election day after I asked her if our organization had contacted her. She said, "yes, several times and if this weren't such an important election I'd vote the opposite way because of how badly you guys hounded me."

See my point?

[Jo March]

34. I see your point

I agree that there are so many groups out there already. What do all of these groups have in common?

DU!

DU's group, VOTE, will participate in the work towards election reform but we will be the link between all of the other groups, allowing us to get "all hands on deck!" so to speak, and get all of the groups working together.

Picture this: An election bill comes up for a vote in the House. We don't want it to die. VOTE springs into action, contacting our list of Progressive groups and sending out the word.

VOTE's media contact people spring into action and start blasting out using the media blasters. They also contact other Progressive groups that are contained in our Media Contacts database.

VOTE's Election Officials contact people spring into action and alert the other Progressive groups, alerting them of the bill. We contact those EO in our database and start calling, faxing, writing and emailing.

We don't just have ten groups here and there working on the same things. We have HUNDREDS of groups working. That translates into hundreds of thousands of Progressive voices!

That is what we need to do.

Also, we will be collecting a list of Progressive groups in a database instead of in a list somewhere. This way we can create custom lists and query for voting records.

We'll do the same for the media.

We'll do the same for volunteers so we can capture who does what so when we need anything, like a graphic designer, we can query our contacts database and see who we have in the database who would be willing to work.

We'll be organized and able to mobilize quicker.

If you have any other questions, please PM me. :)

Arnheim

[autorank]

25. arnheim, Great Name, great start. Look forward to participating.

Put me on the list!

[Pacifist Patriot]

26. I like the name and helderheid's logo.

I haven't chimed in on your previous calls to action, but I am following what's going on and will do what I can when I can.

[emlev]

35. Nice name. Now, about colors...

I'm guessing you'll choose orange as one.
If you choose black to go with it, you'll have everyone who's a SF Giants fan or celebrating Halloween doing your advertising for you.

[katinmn]

36. LOL! n/t

[Jo March]

40. ROTFL! that is too funny. nt

[Stevepol]

39. Sign me up. We all have individual limits but together we can do it.

My email address: [e-mail]

Let me know how I can get something started around here. Members of VOTE unite!!

[Jo March]

41. Got you down, Stevepol!

We are uniting! It's happening!

Together we all will bring * down.

[Beth in VT]

42. I can help out -

I'll PM you.

[Ashamed_American]

43. I love it.

Sign me up. [e-mail]

I put a header that links to this discussion on my website http://www.blackeyedsundays.com

Keep Hope Alive!