Citizen's Audit Exit Poll Project (good frame?)

[SmileMaker]

I've been posting different versions of an idea to begin a citizen's exit poll campaign. The NJ Gov election is coming up soon, so it's hard to get a big organization behind anything new. I will need to start small and close to my network - so, I've chosen in a low income section of Princeton, NJ where no paper trail Sequoia machines are used and I have good access to student volunteers. I could use some help with shaping the message.

The idea has morphed a bit since exploring Parallel Election Projects in FL and CA. I ran the PEP idea by one of the smart Filibuster Frist organizers in Princeton on Thursday. That group that morphed into a chapter of Drinking Liberally! Thursday
s gathering featured Rush Holt campaining for Corzine (for Gov). Reed Gusciora, an incumbent NJ Assemblyman, was also there. He helped sheperd good voting legislation this year in NJ and he is also running but the laws won't take effect till '08 .

Getting rid of the cons means we need our votes to count. We can't wait until 2008 for that. I encouraged the Rush and any Corzine people I oculd find to do a large scale exit poll for this election, but it doesn't appear likely that they or anyone else will. So, I will start small, try to come up with something that engages young people and attracts the media to the issue.

Basic goal is to have people vote in the exit poll and get a big sample. We will see how closely the exit poll percentages match the actual voting result perccentages. Optional signature would provide evidence if the poll shows a discrepancy.

[electropop]

1. The tricky part is gaining credibility with both sides.

You want to get a high percentage of all voters, and be able say your sample is valid. Most importantly you want the results to be believed.

[bullimiami]

2. I think it is a fruitless effort.

Exit polls have no legal weight.
We had plenty of professional exit polling data to show that the current elections are suspect and nothing has come of it.

I think the efforts are better placed to repair the voting system from within, bottom up.
Try to get local then state legislation to mandate verified, tamper-proof voting.
Until we fix the actual voting systems it will continue to be rampant with corruption and massively skewed to those that control it.

[SmileMaker]

3. What's fruitless about raising awareness?

I continue to be shocked by how many people trust that their votes will count, despite the fact that they live in Rush Holt's district and the e-voting controversy has been covered locally.

There are plenty of great people working on the other sytemic problems.

How come exit-polls are good enough for the Ukraine? Why on earth should we allow private companies to handle every aspect of our election process - including exit polls? I think it's time to begin wherever we can to take back the credibility of our votes. Everything else is being done that can be done.

[diva77]

4. parallel election creates an affadavit that can be used to call for a

recount (as long as you're willing to pay for the recount -- at least in CA)...it has legal weight

[Mnemosyne]

5. .

:kick:

[AtLiberty]

6. It is not WE who should be providing the proof...it is THEY!!!

WE, THE OWNERS OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS, DEMAND PROOF THAT THESE VOTING SYSTEMS ARE SECURE!

WE DEMAND ACCURACY TEST RESULTS DURING THE ACTUAL ELECTION! WE DEMAND RECORDS, CONTRACTS, COSTS AND DOCUMENTATION!

WE DEMAND A SOURCE CODE!

WE DEMAND TO KNOW THE SOLVENCY OF DIEBOLD -- THE LAW FIRM SCOTT & SCOTT IS INVESTIGATING DIEBOLD FOR A CLASS ACTION SUIT ON BEHALF OF ITS INVESTORS. IF DIEBOLD INVESTORS HAVE LOST FAITH IN THIS CORPORATION, HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO HAVE FAITH IN THIS CORPORATION?

WE DEMAND A PARALLEL ELECTION!

WE DEMAND INTERNATIONAL MONITORS!

WE DEMAND ALL THE ABOVE AND WE DEMAND IT NOW!

[diva77]

7. do you have link to article on class action suit?

[AtLiberty]

8. Here ya go!

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/10/prweb295341.htm

[diva77]

9. thanks - not really any detail given about suit here