DEPARTMENTS
ANTI-WAR
DEATH PENALTY
ELECTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
GLBT ISSUES
HEMP
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL
REVIEWS
|
Departments Election Issues Alameda County supervisors embrace election fraud Last month, I experienced a truly disgraceful display of ignorance and arrogance from a majority of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the staff of the Registrar of Voters office. The Supervisors held a public hearing on June 8th to decide on voting equipment for our future elections. Dozens of concerned citizens were treated to a pathetic example of the breakdown of responsible representative government that today plagues our nation at every level of our system. These citizens felt compelled to spend the day giving informed testimony and impassioned pleas for a return to honest and verifiable elections, only to be ignored by three of the five Supervisors. Instead of having the decency to honor the desire of their constituents to eliminate potential election fraud, they instead chose to squander $13.25 million taxpayer dollars for a touch screen voting system by Sequoia. This system, like its counterparts from Diebold, employs secret software codes, which cannot be trusted to deliver honest vote counts. This system is perhaps slightly better than the now illegal 4300 touch-screen voting devices our taxpayer dollars purchased from Diebold in 2002 for $12 million. Those machines are now sitting in a warehouse collecting dust, deemed unusable. (Diebold, in its great benevolence, will reimburse Alameda County taxpayers $3 million as a return credit on those machines.) The Sequoia so called "paper trail" system emits a printout on a tiny roll of thermal paper that is virtually useless for any large-scale recounts and does not allow the voter to verify his or her choices. The voter cannot see how the selections were reported. With public testimony from over 50 citizens, all but 2 speakers begged the Supervisors to reject any system that incorporates hackable and pre-programmable secret source code software. There was an option to negotiate a purchase of ESS equipment, which also uses a touch-screen computer, but then PRINTS OUT a paper ballot that the voter can review for accuracy before turning it into poll workers. These paper ballots can then be counted by computerized optical scanners, or better yet, counted by hand. I personally believe that ballots should be hand counted with observers from any interested party monitoring the count from a location where the validity of the process can be guaranteed. The optical scanning procedure that is currently in use is still vulnerable to vote switching and fraud as any computer's software program can be preset to deliver a specific result. Most European nations and Canada employ a full paper vote and hand counting process and their elections are conducted honestly. Shamefully however the Board's majority ignored hours of testimony from highly informed and alarmed citizens and instead chose to vote in accordance with the advice of the two opposing speakers, one from Diebold, the other from Sequoia! The system that was approved for purchase was a secret source code software Sequoia computer that has been proved to be vulnerable to hacking and could be secretly programmed by the vendor to deliver a predetermined outcome of any election! The Board added a last minute amendment, in response to the furious outcry of betrayal by those citizens in the hearing room, that the systems be checked for accuracy and a hacking test be performed. It is important to note that these vendors have a well-established history of failing to follow through on promises or even to allow testing of this sort. To their credit, Supervisors Nate Miley and Keith Carson asked all the right questions of the various speakers and seemed to understand the dangers of allowing the purchase of a secret software black box voting system. The staff on the other hand, seemed intent on steering the decision in only one direction…to Sequoia! Important questions were improperly answered and on several occasions false information was given to the supervisors to the amazement and consternation of the hearing's audience. When it came time to vote, Supervisor Gail Steele stated that she was "feeling like I am in the Twilight Zone." She admitted to never using her computer and to not understanding most of the four hours of testimony she had witnessed. After making this stunning admission, she chose to ignore all of the public comment and voted to purchase the insecure Sequoia system. Supervisors Alice Lai Bitker and Scott Haggerty also cast their votes for the Sequoia system. Any elected official who is so unconcerned with the sanctity of our votes, in the face of the enormous body of evidence regarding electronic voting and unanimous public comment, does not deserve to remain in office! It should be noted that in Washington State litigation was conducted to render unlawful the use of these Sequoia computer election systems. That lawsuit was successful. The turnout of this last election was one of the lowest on record. The American people have lost faith in our election system and nearly half of all Americans now believe it to be fraudulent. It is no surprise that citizens don't bother to vote if they believe that the outcome can be manipulated. Tremendous evidence of election fraud can be seen at www.blackboxvoting.org and www.freepress.org. The question for history is now whether "We the People" will passively accept the demise of representative government or instead use all means at our disposal to send a clear message to elected and fraudulently elected officials alike that our votes are worth fighting for. Let's reclaim our democracy now. If we fail to protect our freedom then we will surely lose it. |
|
Recent Election Issues Articles Renowned computer security expert agrees to meet California county supervisor's '1000 to 1' challenge to 'manipulate' Sequoia voting machine! 100 phantom votes found in one precinct; DelCo board of elections hinders investigation Think globally, protect the vote locally Will they or won't they: last chance for Democrats The vote protectors Ohio's 2006 vote count now includes a higher percentage of uncounted ballots than in 2004, and a statistically impossible swing to the Republicans The drama of empty numbers A monumental victory for the election protection movement Pick a number 2006 How they stole the mid-term election STOP Blackwell, what's that sign: Everyone look what's going down Parallel election midday report Tuesday's outcome may depend on the power of the election protection movement The power of a social movement can beat the GOP double Chickenhawks Check out We Count for a great TownHall confrontation between Vicki Lovegren of Ohio Vigilance and Michael Vu, Supervisor of Cuyahoga County BOE Official states electronic voting system added votes never cast in 2004 Presidential election; audit log missing Repairing the U.S. system of voting: 50 concrete steps Will a shocking new GOP court victory and Karl Rove's attack on Ohio 2006 doom the Democrats nationwide? Renoite sue Sequoia Voting Systems Severe election problems seen in ten states Direct material proof of massive election fraud in Ohio in the 2004 U.S. presidential election A talk with Mark Crispin Miller about what voters can do to prevent another stolen election Will Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004? Important voter activism A loaves & fishes/Holy Ghost victory for the GOP in November? Why is the man who stole Ohio campaigning with a white supremacist? This cannot be Court victory lets preserved Ohio 2004 ballots tell new tales of theft and fraud as indictments and convictions mount Unfit for use in ANY democracy An open letter to Gov. Robert Taft and Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell Coshocton County complaint Saving the ballot evidence from Ohio 2004 San Diego suit’s second hearing: Judge to rule next Tuesday on constitutional and jurisdictional questions New Zogby Poll: It’s Nearly Unanimous How the last presidential election awoke me from an unsound sleep PFAW's Neas praises advance of Voting Rights Act, Calls on Bush Administration to start enforcing the law Why Democrats don't count: lessons from the un-Gore of Mexico Resolution of no confidence in current U.S. elections An open letter from Ohio to the people of Mexico The stolen election of 2004 The Democrats must now say "We Do Not Concede" in the U.S. as it's being said in Mexico Project Vote, voting rights organizations, file to overturn restrictive voter registration rules BBV: Unredacted Hursti Diebold reports, photos released Ignore that man behind the screen, Dorothy Bob Fitrakis for Governor -- he is now on the ballot Alameda County supervisors embrace election fraud San Diego’s run-off election aggregate results are plausible A vote of no confidence: democracy left to languish in living rooms, garages Kennedy's challenge: Salon, Mother Jones & the tortured dialogue Warren County revisited Something smells fishy in San Diego! Response to Salon Magazine Analysis of Connally spreadsheet and other documents RFK and Rolling Stone nail Ohio's stolen 2004 election, but much more must be done Pick a card, any card Will the major media finally cover the electronic election fraud issue? The money pit: Diebold vs. America Worst security flaw ever - 3 states invoke Diebold emergency procedures Cranks and Kooks: Kerry won in '04 Ohio 2004 election thief grabs Gov nod while (surprise! surprise!) voting machines malfunction Hand counted paper ballots in 2008 Busheviks connected to New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP’s hateful “Christian” blitzkrieg? Thousands march in New Orleans for right for Katrina survivors to vote in the city’s April 22 election Shocking Diebold conflict of interest revelations from Secretary of State further taint Ohio's electoral credibility Faith-based voting Targeting the voters in Toledo Targeting the voters in Cincinnati Through a glass Darkely Is the Mainstream Media finally getting half the rigged voting machine story? Please help Clint Curtis Utah testing of the Diebold touch-screen reveals new problems Trust us Harman vs. Winograd, tough choice? Why did J. Kenneth Blackwell seek, then hide, his association with super-rich extremists and e-voting magnates? Did 308,000 cancelled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House? Statisticians recommend new measures to ensure vote count accuracy, release "Ohio’s 2004 exit poll analysis for novices” As Alito takes Supreme Court seat, Ohio GOP guts election protection The Harri Hursti hack and its importance to our nation Programmer Jeff Dean worked for chief of White House Plumbers unit Free Press Editor in Film at Sundance PA activists sue to vote on machines Important documents The gun is smoking - The gun is smoking - 2004 Ohio precinct-level exit poll data show virtually irrefutable evidence of vote miscount Recipe for hacking ES&S and Sequoia, Hursti-style What’s all the fuss about Diebold in Florida and California? New info may take out Diebold touchscreens Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
FREE PRESS EMAIL UPDATE
FOLLOW US ON
twitter
facebook
SEARCH THE FREEPRESS
1021 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 | 614.253.2571 | truth@freepress.org
All content © 1970-2012 The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer