Scoop/Autorank: The National Summit to Save Our Elections - Days 2-3

[althecat]

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0510/S00082.htm

The National Summit to Save Our Elections Continues in Portland, Oregon

Days 2 & 3: The Ghost You’ll Never See in the Machine (“electronic voting”); Outsourcing Elections to Corporate America; Methods of Monitoring Elections; plus State and Community Level Action.
Report By DU & PI Poster autorank
On special assignment for
"Scoop" at the conference

See also…
National Summit to Save Our (US) Elections – Day 1 & Cobb Will Not Run for 2008 Presidential Nomination

Topics Covered:
1. Corporate Ownership of Our Elections: New Dimensions in Outsourcing Elections.
2. Real Concerns about Outsourced Elections: The Vanishing (from public view) Votes.
3. “Think Patriotically, Act Locally”
4. Corporate Control of the Final Vote Count: Centralized Voter Registration Databases
5. David Cobb, Green Candidate for President Gives Keynote Speech.
6. Verifying Election Results Panel
7. The “Baker-Carter” Commission
8. The Voter Confidence Resolution

Portland, Oregon, USA. 10/3/05. The National Summit to Save Our Elections continued today with an array of presenters who addressed concerns vital to voting rights and election integrity. The themes of day two and the final half day session focused on the potential and likelihood of election fraud, new methods of monitoring for fraud, effective techniques to insure election integrity. The event is sponsored and organized by the Oregon Voter Rights Coalition ( ) and the Alliance for Democracy-Portland ( ). Democracy of Oregon is a supporting organization The Summit website is located at

MUCH MORE HERE…
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0510/S00082.htm

Including who are these people?

[understandinglife]

1. Excellent. Recommended. Thank you.

Peace.

[kster]

2. K&R..nt

[Old and In the Way]

3. Good stuff!

Thanks Althecat and autorank!

[Peace Patriot]

4. Strongly recommended! Wish I could be there! I hope you or other

Paul Reveres at this summit will give us a blow by blow, post the speeches, point us to video, and tell us some of the electon reform gossip. (What's in the wind? What's doing with Baker/Carter?)

I'm particularly interested to know of assessments of the overall status of election reform (is anyone keeping count of changes toward transparency, state by state? --perhaps we need a Transparency Thermometer!), and also, has anyone addressed the issue of election official corruption--lavish lobbying, "revolving door" employment, etc.? (I'm beginning to think that's our biggest problem, really.) (Did anyone at the summit attend that hogfest at the Beverly Hilton in early August--a week of fun, sun and high-end shopping for election officials from around the country, sponsored by Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia? Any talk of it?)

Profound thanks to you all!!!

[freedomfries]

5. Kick & rec

great work and a big thank you to auto!

[Fly by night]

6. Some corrections on my presentation -- "Think Patriotically, Act Locally"

A) I spent less than a minute (of the 90 minute presentation) discussing our "Nash-ional" conference.
B) Neither Paul Lehto nor Susan Truitt spoke at our conference.

Here is the outline I worked from in my Portland presentation. I really appreciated the good crowd that showed up and the discussion we had about actions that everyone should be taking NOW to protect your votes in your home town and state. (And organizing a national conference would not be very high on that list.)

Portland Presentation Outline
(9/27/05)

I. Introduction

A. Glad to be at conference – part of a continuing and growing process that will take our country back, by working together

1. Play "Takin' My Country Back"
2. Distribute orange ribbons

B. Think Patriotically – Act Locally and Now – what I mean

C. What I intend to do with this time:

1. Personal and organizational journey to activism in Tennessee
2. Gathering – Who we are, what we've done
3. Phases of our activism (thus far)
4. Where we are now
a. Legislatively
b. County/state election commissions
c. The courts
d. Media
e. Public education/communication
f. Organizationally

5. Key lessons learned so far
6. Springboard for discussing what "acting locally" looks like at the end of 2005 in other states present for protecting your votes and saving our democracy

II. Personal and community journey to activism in Tennessee

A. Personal journey

1. Always voted, seldom politically active, no involvement with internet politics
2. "We're Not In Lake Wobegon Anymore" In these Times, Garrison Keillor
3. Voter registration, sign delivery, LTTEs, etc. – blogging to large email list
4. Story: Four women I registered/hundreds of farmers I didn't
5. Post-election Day
a. Continued communication with email list
b. Internet search – BBV, truthout, raw story, etc. – settled on DU
c. 51 Capitals March – coordinated it for TN

B. Organizational journey – Gathering To Save Our Democracy

1. Public rallies – state capital, Vanderbilt University, county Democratic party meetings, unions, churches, progressive groups
2. Private meetings – Educate ourselves, organize response to stolen 2004 election (letter-writing campaigns, etc.), develop a pro-active election reform group
3. Continued communication with expanding email list
4. Media coverage – television, RADIO, print
5. Networking with other election reformers/organizations nationally


III. Gathering To Save Our Democracy – Who we are, what we've done

A. Who we are

1. Grassroots, inclusive, broad-based, nonpartisan (goals)
2. Statewide group, though centered in middle Tennessee
3. 300+ on our email list – 20-30 very active members (core of 6 or 7)

B. What have we done? (Three phases of our activism so far)

1. Phase One – educating about the stolen election

a. Gatherings (PowerPoint presentation)
b. Public information/education materials (printed, emailed)
c. Media coverage
d. Letter-writing campaigns
e. Building alliances
f. National Election Reform Conference
1. Reviewing evidence for stolen election (OH, FL, NM, NH, AZ, PA, GA)
2. Discussing options for election reform/election justice

2. Phase Two – learning about options for reform in TN and starting the dialogue

a. TN's patchwork election system – the good, the bad and the dangerous
b. Learning the players and the power bases– state-level and county-level
c. Studying the national dialogue on election reform
d. Refining our election reform goals
e. Identifying supportive legislators
f. Expanding alliances
g. Attending the TN Association of County Election Officials

3. Phase 3 – Working for reform

a. Communicating with county election officials/liaison with punch-card counties
b. Attending State Election Commission meetings
c. Continuing to educate ourselves/broader audiences (Diebold, Memphis snafu)
d. Public information/education campaigns (media, handouts, buttons)
e. Developing a legislative agenda (for lawmaking and SEC influence)
f. Supporting a lawsuit to declare paperless electronic voting unconstitutional


IV. Key lessons learned thus far

A. Establishing a nonpartisan platform
B. Coalition-building –
1. Local -- NAACP, Urban League, Common Cause, NOW, three political parties
2. National – both formal and informal
C. Celebrating our history (civil rights, suffrage)
D. Allying with the disabled voters in our state (accessibility AND accountability, HAVA)
E. Education for action – continual, both within/outside group (media, organizations)
F. Learning the local process – Existing voting systems, how HAVA is being co-opted
G. Educating legislators and cultivating advocates (developing a sponsorable agenda)
H. Folding election reform into ethics reform
I. Identifying "inside" supporters (SEC, county officials)
J. Staying on top of the issue – being a frequent and trusted source of information
K. Sharing our process with others (slide-show, legislative presentation, TACEO, lawsuit)
L. Major challenge – staying on message, avoiding sabotage

(Comments/questions)

V. What does "acting locally" look like at the end of 2005 in other states present for protecting our votes and saving our democracy

VI. Conclusion

A. Hope that Tennessee's experience has been informative
B. To save our democracy, we must act locally, NOW. And never stop pushing until we achieve free, fair and verifiable elections.

[althecat]

7. Hi fly by night,

Hi fly by night,

That looks great....

If you have it in electronic format of some kind...Scoop would be honoured to post your full presentation...

alastair

[althecat]

8. Just Posted This To General Discussion... If you feel inclined kick..

Don't kick this thread...

:kick:

OVER HERE....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2137564

Alastair...


DUer Blazes The "Be The Media" Trail To Portland, Oregon Election Summit

Hi GD Politics...

After writing a stunning expose about the humidity interrupting the count in the Hackett Ohio special election The Veteran Of Fallujah Defeated By OH's Humidity. DUer Autorank has been doing some more writing for Scoop about US election shenanigans at the National Summit to Save Our Elections .



This is a wonderful example of a DUer taking up the challenge to be the media. As it turns out most of the other media present at the conference (the second Election Reform gathering of this kind this year) were there to present and not report on events.

At present the two reports linked below are the only two reports of proceedings out there (so far as I know).... no doubt more will follow shortly.

Autorank says he had a great time and if you have any questions would I am certain be very keen to impart more about what went on.

alastair thompson
http://Scoop.co.nz

Two Reports By DU & PI Poster autorank

On special assignment for
"Scoop" at the conference

The National Summit to Save Our Elections Continues in Portland, Oregon
Days 2 & 3: The Ghost You’ll Never See in the Machine (“electronic voting”); Outsourcing Elections to Corporate America; Methods of Monitoring Elections; plus State and Community Level Action.

&

National Summit to Save Our (US) Elections – Day 1
Day 1: A Clear Outline and Rationale for the Ongoing Voting Rights Movement

See also Discussion in Election reform forum of these articles.

Day 2-3: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x396083
Day 1: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x395751
& Also
The Portland Summit to Save Our Elections -- If you were there, speak up! - by Fly By Night
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x395798

[Amaryllis]

12. Brad did the Brad Show direct from the Summit. See here for 4 hours:

http://www.BradShow.com/#ArchivesOREGON

[Amaryllis]

13. Also, don't miss Bob Koehler's column, Ballot and Soul, on the Summit:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2148170&mesg_id=2148170

[Fly by night]

9. Wow. Thanks for the offer.

I know the session was videoed, so we could probably pull audio off of that or post the video. Or if it would be better, I can prepare a written report of my presentation and spice it with a few charts/graphs/pictures. Just give me some direction.

PM me if you need to and I will definitely put something together. Thanks. FBN

[Wilms]

10. kick n/t

[Wilms]

11. kick n/t