Hello all. I come to this forum with a question:

[Stinky The Clown]

What are Democratic leaders, the ones with the power to actually **do** something about vote system cheating, doing? Are there any plans, in place and ready to go, with respect to cheating in the voting process for the midterms?

I see plans to get a candidate in every race. And that's important and commendable.

I see plans to put up a good fight in the campaigns. And that's important and commendable.

I see plans for strong fundraising. And that's important and commendable.

I see lots of plans for lots of things. Campaign speech 'plans' about Iraq, about the economy, about immigration, about all sorts of issues. And that is important and commendable.

Have I missed the plans our party and elected leaders have to stop vote cheating? I asked this in GDPol and got nothing. I'm hoping someone in this forum knows more than I do.

[Soloflecks]

1. And I'd like to give an answer, but

I'd probably be banned, and I like being able to comment here from time to time.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Hahahaha

I get that **same** feeling from time to time. I also get lots of .... well .... pure crap from the candidate/personality cultists about how great this guy or that guy is doing with this 'plan' or that 'plan' ... but in the end it all seems like so much bullshit.

[jean]

2. I have no answer. Maybe we don't hear about plans to thwart vote cheating

because they don't want to alert the cheaters. That's the same kind of wishful thinking I had when Kerry said he had an army of lawyers poised to take action.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Whew ..... that feeling is frighteningly pervasive

... feeling like we did when we thought Kerry had an 'army of lawyers' ready to go in the 04 cycle.

That is **exactly** how I'm feeling and exactly why I asked what I asked in this post.

[nicknameless]

3. It's difficult to say that Dem "leaders" have any plans.

Maybe more accurate to say that if they do, I don't know about them.
There's the Holt bill (550), but let's not even go there.

Every state seems to have its own battles going on, and voting rights activists seem to be the ones on the front lines.

In California, we *do* have State Senator Debra Bowen fighting tooth and nail for us. We are incredibly lucky to have her.

There are battles between the states and the e-voting vendors. A number of lawsuits have been filed against the vendors.

On edit: IMO, as long as the machines remain in place, voters will have a major fight on their hands.
I think HAVA really needs to go.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. I can live with not being on the inside with respect to action plans

that may be in place and ready to go. In fact, if **I** know about them, I'd be more worried because if I know them, so does the other side. My concern is that the silence we seem to be hearing is there because ... well ..... there is **really** nothing there!

I am aware of a lot of state-centric 'safe vote' organizations and task forces of the more grass roots variety. I admit to not knowing much about any of them outside my own state ... and admit to knowing all **that*** much about what's happening in my own state, for that matter.

Are you aware of any coordination among these groups? Between these groups and the party? Is there any party support going their way, either financial or organizationally?

[nicknameless]

8. Check out VoteTrustUSA

http://www.votetrustusa.org
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=8&Itemid=113

I think election reform activists realize the need to work together, so there is cooperation.
But as far as financial support from the party goes, I'm not seeing that happen.

What's that saying? The first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one?
There are a lot of Dem leaders who still refuse to face reality.

On edit: New links to more general info.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. "There are a lot of Dem leaders who still refuse to face reality."

Sadly, that seems to be a hard truth. Certainly none of the party apparatchiks seem to be admitting there's a problem.

[nicknameless]

13. Every once in a while, Dean makes some noise about Diebold,

but I haven't heard of any real plan to do anything about them, or any of the other vote-trashing machines.

Here's a story GaryBeck posted about trying to get his message across to DFA National Headquarters:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421192

[Stinky The Clown]

16. It seems, mostly, its this

[nicknameless]

17. LOL!

Yep, that's a pretty good portrayal of most Dems in power.

:eyes:

[skids]

7. The biggest thing they could do would be very painful...

...which is in those places under dem control to throw out the political patronage appointees on the BoEs and replace them with competent, job focused individuals.

Alas, I still haven't seen any "keep people registered", "parallel election", or other election monitoring citizen groups crop up in my area. Probably becase I live in MA where people think the voting system problems are in other people's states and don't care to pay attention to the high potential for Dem on Dem primary fraud.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. That's pretty much the case in my state of Maryland .....

.... or perhaps better said ..... my state's state of denial.

Our problem here is we're 100% paperless Diebold and the machines were brought in by our **DEM** leadership. Talk about heads being either in the sand or up asses .....

[emulatorloo]

9. Well I heard of a plan to get Dem Secs of State in place

so that Kenny Blackwell and his election stealing ilk are out of the picture.

But of course that requires that these Dem Secs of State get elected.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. See my post, immediately above

We have a Dem in that slot .... have for eons .... and we have the 'blessing' of 100% paperless Diebold.

The message of BBV has to be delivered right through the front door where We the People can see it.

[paineinthearse]

25. see post #24

below

[garybeck]

14. Unfortunately

the Democratic Party is not doing much about this at all. They have their heads in the sand and refuse to even acknowledge the problem in most cases.

[EFerrari]

15. The short answer is, they aren't going to fix it. We have to.

:hi:

[Bill Bored]

18. They ain't doin' shit! nt

[autorank]

19. There is a simple solution. But nobody in power is even thinking about it

Astandards to this little but vibrant corner of the world.

Here's the solution - PAPER BALLOTS.

The ones my mom voted on as she held me under her arm so I could see what real democracy
was all about.

Canada uses paper ballots for their elections, takes them about 4 hours for a national total.

Great Britain uses paper ballots for their elections. They get bank tellers to volunteer for
the process. The counts are in large halls and all are invited.

There are problems on the margins in these countries and in one area of England with mail in ballots counted. But nobody is claiming major fraudulent results in either country.

So what's our major malfunction? Oh, right, gotta have those totals right away so we let
Republican voting machine companies take, count, and report the votes....and by contract nobody
is able to look at the software or methods of those voting machines unless they work for the
Republican companies. Sweet, huh.

The DNC did a report on Ohio. It had 100 page statistical analysis proving Kerry LOST. And it
had another 100 pages on voting systems, some of which were helpful. The report did not use or
include any material from the Conyers report.

Chris Dod, D, CT was the cosponsor of the Help America Vote Act 2002 which shoved touch screens
in districts all over the country. Co-sponsor was Mitch McConnell, R, KY. He's still loving
touch screens. Nancy Pelosi loves them too. Dean knows the most but he just said optiscans (counts
scan able ballots) are better than touch screens, which misses the point. They're as secret in
operation as the touch screens and provided by the same vendors. Dean is the only hope here since
he's a quick study and people are trying to get to him.

Here's the point everybody is missing and an article that lays it out in terms and tone that you, Husb, would appreciate:

With the help of nearly $4 billion in federal grants, HAVA eliminates the evidence of voter intent by eliminating the paper. Instead of paper ballots we have votes registered and counted on "touch screens" - computer based direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines. Invisible electronic ballots are the result of these DRE touch screens. Electronic vote counting software does the vital vote tabulation in secret. For citizens and public officials, the vote counting processes are strictly off limits. There is literally nothing to see. As a result, the public records of vote counting are gone. To preserve this secrecy, DRE purchase contracts often pledge the government to cooperate with the vendors to fight the very citizens the government is pledged to serve.

What is this secrecy in vote counting, really? To have the votes counted in secret by your political enemy is the picture of tyranny. To have the votes counted in secret by your political friend is the picture of corruption. To even desire such an unaccountable power is itself corrupt. So how is HAVA cramming this down the throat of American democracy?

HAVA, it turns out, provides a $3.8 billion carrot of federal money to assist election jurisdictions with purchases that comply with HAVA’s “standards”. This federal carrot is combined with a big lawsuit stick for noncompliance. The date for required compliance with HAVA is the first federal election in 2006 (the primary), and violations of HAVA are routinely guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Justice to be cause for a lawsuit. New York was the first major example made of a big state, when DOJ filed suit to force compliance with HAVA’s “standards” in March 2006. (From "Scoop" see below)

Excerpts or the entire "Scoop" article may be reprinted with full permission of the author with attribution to the author and "Scoop."

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0604/S00233.htm

Cramdown, Stripdown, Lockdown Democracy In The USA

Thursday, 20 April 2006, 10:44 am
Article: Michael Collins
SIMPLE QUESTIONS -- TROUBLING ANSWERS
Q&A Session with a Commissioner of the Elections Assistance Commission Reveals Massive Violations of Citizen Rights
Secret Vote Counting Crammed Down the Throat of Democracy

Special Report for “Scoop” Independent Media
First in a Series on HAVA and the EAC
by Michael Collins
Washington, DC

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Sadly, seems like a lotta the grassroots, even activist, are clueless, too

What's your level of hope for the midterms?

[eridani]

21. The problem with the Dems is this--

Elections auditors and Secretaries of State are concerned with administrative convenience most of all, and there is no real difference between Dems and Repubs on this issue. All too many are willing to sell our elections to the private sector because this makes their lives easier.

That is the basic problem we are up against. You'd think that Dems would be more concerned because the private entities that own our elections are all Republican-dominated, but they aren't. Even in WA State during the Gregoire recount, the state party agreed to leave the issue of touch-screen cheating in Snohomish county for Rossi off of the table. The auditor of Snohomish is a DEMOCRAT, but he is more interested in retroactively justifying his decision to piss away millions on touchscreens than he is in stopping cheating which favors Republicans.

Leadership is going to have to come from us, and we will have to scream at people in high positions in our own party until they get it.

[BeFree]

22. Howard Dean

Says the machines are a "big problem".

Other than that, the party has been as silent as a church mouse.

Even on DU, imo, there are not more than 20% of us that can and will speak out about the issue. The lack of education is astounding, so I'd say there are only 1% of the people in the country who are aware enough to be led. If the leaders have no one to lead, then they won't. They aren't.

So what to do? I say we plant a seed of doubt in every elections office across this great land. There are more than 10,000 very public, very democratic government offices in America where this issue has roots, and it is up to each and every one of us to go in and do a little planting.

[bobbieinok]

23. I have the impression that very few elected dems or citizens have

really bitten the bullet and realized that there is in place a major means of vote stealing.......many simply cannot believe that 'good American' would do that......you would think that dem politicians at the national level would have waked up and realized their political future is going down

it just doesn't make any sense that Gore and Kerry aren't working 24/7 on figuring out a way to make our votes safe.....surely THEY MUST KNOW something is really rotten.....and the GA dem senator that lost so 'surprisingly' in 2002

[paineinthearse]

24. Take this 10 point Voters' Bill of Rights to your "leader".

Get their official response. These rights are fundamental. Lack of endorsement and support is grounds for removal.

http://www.johnbonifaz.com/votersbillofrights

1. Count every vote
The right to vote includes the right to have our votes properly counted.

We must ensure that every citizen's vote will be counted. This includes a guarantee of open and transparent elections with verified voting, paper trails, and access to the source codes for, and random audits of, electronic voting machines. It also includes a guarantee that we the people, through our government, will control our voting machines — not private companies.

2. Make voting easier
We should enact election day registration here in Massachusetts, removing the barrier of registration prior to Election Day. Six states have election day registration. They have a higher voter turnout in their elections and have no evidence of voter fraud. We should be encouraging greater participation in the political process, starting with election day registration.

We should also ensure absentee voting for all, allow for early voting, and remove other barriers that make it difficult for people to vote.

3. End the big money dominance of our electoral process
In a democracy, public elections should be publicly financed. In Maine and Arizona, publicly financed elections have enabled people to run for office who would never have dreamed of running under a system dominated by big money interests. We, as voters, need to own our elections, rather than allow the process to be controlled by the wealthy few.

We also need to enact mandatory limits on campaign spending. In 1976, the Supreme Court wrongly struck down mandatory campaign spending limits for congressional elections. A federal appeals court in New York has recently revisited that decision and ruled that campaign spending limits in Vermont can be constitutional. That case is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Massachusetts should help lead the way with campaign spending limits for our elections.

4. Expand voter choice
Instant run-off voting: Voters should be able to rank their choices of candidates, ensuring majority support for those elected and allowing greater voter choice and wider voter participation.

Cross Endorsement Voting (Fusion voting): Voters should be able to cast their ballots for major party candidates on a minor party's ballot line, placing power in the hands of the people and broadening public debate on the issues of the day.

Proportional Representation: Voters should be allowed their fair share of representation, ensuring that majority rule does not prevent minority voices from being heard.

5. Ensure access for new citizens and language minorities
The right to vote does not speak one specific language. It is universal. No one should be denied the right to vote because of a language barrier.

6. Level the playing field for challengers
Redistricting reform — Incumbent legislators should not have the power to draw their own district lines. We must transfer this power to independent non-partisan commissions and create fair standards for redistricting, thereby promoting competition in our electoral process and improving representation for the people.

7. Ensure non-partisan election administration
The Secretary of the Commonwealth must be a Secretary for all of us, regardless of party affiliation. The Secretary should not be allowed to serve as a co-chair of campaigns of candidates. To ensure the people's trust in the integrity of our elections, the Secretary must conduct the administration of elections in a non-partisan manner.

8. Make government more accessible to all of us
Democracy is not just about our participation on Election Day. We need to participate every day and our government needs to be accessible to us every day. This means a government that is open and transparent, that encourages people to make their voices heard, and that enlists citizen participation in addressing the major issues of our time.

9. Re-authorize the Voting Rights Act of 1965
We must continue the fight to protect the right to vote and to end voting disenfranchisement schemes. The Secretary of the Commonwealth must fight for congressional re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

10. Amend the US Constitution to ensure an affirmative right to vote
One hundred and eight democratic nations in the world have explicit language guaranteeing the right to vote in their constitutions, and the United States — along with only ten other such nations — does not. As a result, the way we administer elections in this country changes from state to state, from county to county, from locality to locality. The Secretary of the Commonwealth must fight for a constitutional amendment that affirmatively guarantees the right to vote in the US Constitution.

http://www.johnbonifaz.com/issues