Good article re Sequoia in Denver paper, actually a little research!!

[Stevepol]

The reporter writing this article actually did some investigative research about Sequoia. Shows the bind that the elections people around the country are in. Also indicates how well some of the grassroots people in CO are doing in getting the facts out there where the elections people can see them. (Courtesy VotersUnite and John Gideon)



Voting machine glitches tally up
Denver City Council to discuss purchase for next election

By Lou Kilzer And Alan Gathright
Rocky Mountain News
May 8, 2006

The company Denver is relying on for voting machines for this year's elections has a history of computer glitches, delayed counting, supply problems and a brush with a bribery scandal.
Malfunctions in Sequoia Voting Systems' machines contributed to a four-week delay in getting full results in Chicago's March primary election - prompting a Cook County official to threaten to withhold payment of some of the $50 million the county owes Sequoia.

snip...

Meanwhile, officials in Pennsylvania are sketching out contingency plans for a May 16 vote in the event Sequoia software problems cannot be fixed in time. A test showed that part of the system being used there is vulnerable to hackers.

These problems follow a series of Sequoia snafus in California, Washington, Florida and New Mexico, according to summaries of news reports given to members of the Denver City Council by a voters' rights organization.

Also on the list is a bribery scandal in Louisiana where that state's election chief, Jerry Fowler, pleaded guilty in 2001 to taking bribes for the purchase of outdated voting equipment at inflated prices.


The link:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_4682030,00.html

[kster]

1. K&R, Stevepol I

refuse to let a thread go by without the minimum of a

"K&R........ nt" Posted in it. Good thread, Keep on Keepin on !!

[Peace Patriot]

2. The third leg of the Bushite election theft industry: Sequoia

Here's the rundown on who is "counting" all of our votes behind the veil of "trade secret," proprietary programming code:

Diebold: Until recently, headed by Wally O'Dell, a Bush/Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser, who promised (in writing) to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes" to Bush/Cheney in 2004.

ES&S: A spinoff of Diebold (similar computer architecture), initially funded by rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who also gave one million dollars to the extremist 'christian' Chalcedon Foundation, which touts the death penalty for homosexuals (among other things).'

Diebold and ES&S have an incestuous relationship; they are run by two brothers, Tod and Bob Urosevich.

Sequoia: Hired former Repub Calif Sec of State Bill Jones and his chief aide, Alfie Charles, to peddle their machines, after Jones and Charles brought this election theft technology to Calif. Nice payoff. Sleazy "revolving door" employment.

All three of the major vendors of election theft machinery have close ties to the Republican Party, as outlined above; all have engaged in lavish lobbying of election officials and legislators in order to push this extremely hackable, insecure, unreliable new technology on the states and counties, and have profited from the $4 billion boondoggle known as the "Help America Vote Act" (aka, "Hack America's Vote Act," or the "Help America Vote for Bush Act") that was engineered by the two biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney, and rushed into "production" for the 2004 election.

Numerous independent experts have descried the use of this NON-TRANSPARENT electronic voting technology, with its 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code; numerous independent tests have proven it to be extremely insecure; and numerous of these new voting systems have failed in actual elections.

HAVA contained no requirement of a paper trail of any kind--let alone a real paper ballot backup; no audit/recount controls; no control on partisan vendors, no controls on lavish lobbying, and no controls on "revolving door" employment; it permits secret industry "testing' of the machines, and created an underfunded, Bush-appointed election commission whose chief function is to bully, bribe and corrupt local election officials, using draconian deadlines and threats of withheld funding. They also played a part in "swiftboating" one of the few honest secretaries of state in country, Kevin Shelley (Calif), who had sued Diebold and decertified the worst of their election theft machines prior to the 2004 election.

But one thing HAVA does NOT do--it does NOT require electronic voting. It accomplished the conversion to Bushite-controlled electronic voting through bribery and corruption.

PAPER BALLOTS HAND-COUNTED AT THE PRECINCT LEVEL ARE STILL A LEGAL OPTION--although the election theft industry tries to make people believe otherwise.

If you want your country back, throw Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia--and all NON-TRANSPARENT election theft machines--into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

[Peace Patriot]

3. For those who need the info...

SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496
Seven of these counties just promised the judge they would use PAPER BALLOTS, and were dismissed from this lawsuit (4/27/06).
http://kcbs.com/pages/29285.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2249205

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
(FLA AG subpoenas the companies)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,110192,00.html
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html
(info & discussion)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630

Utah county clerk fights back!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x419226

-----

More resources for American Revolution II:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)


(Activist sites with links to state activist groups or info)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)

www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Provisions of the PA lawsuit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739

The Voter Confidence Resolution
http://tinyurl.com/rlnr2 (“We Do Not Consent”)
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com (GuvWurld blog main page)
http://tinyurl.com/amryg (Voter Confidence Resolution

www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Congressional bills:

Russ Holt's HR 550 requires a real paper ballot, bans secret software in "voting machines", and has more than 170 co-sponsors, but the audit required is too weak, it promotes electronic voting and centralized power, and the secret software might be permitted to continue in the central tabulators (the bill is not clear). To sign the HR 550 petition: http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
At lot of discussion at DU of the loopholes/pitfalls in HR 550:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x422926
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421136
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=422967&mesg_id=422967
(Note: Senate Bill-SB 330 and House-HR704 simply require a "voter verified paper audit trail" (VVPAT), which may be best for the moment.)


Also of interest:

Michael Collins (Autorank)'s searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy! Title: "Poll Shock" 11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

Bob Koehler's latest: "Trust us: Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm
More Koehler:
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

HOWARD DEAN remarks on electronic voting machines 04/06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x994507

------------------------------------------------

Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

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"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

[mmarcus]

4. Oh, Denver and Boulder are way ahead of us

But Denver has got even a worse system than mine. We have Diebold touchscreens and no one is really focusing on our neck of the woods. I think it's because our newspapers aren't at all on top of this but the Rocky Mountain News especially has done some decent articles. They did a really good interview of David Dill a few years back. Where I am? Nada.