Ok, I apologize in advance. I normally don't do politics on
usenet, especially off topic, but I got a couple of very
interesting and frightening e-mails tonight that I felt
obligated to share...
this year, so am sharing the following message:
Quoted message said:You can make a HUGE differrence. I'm attaching an article
I wrote that will explain more. Please also contact Ms.
Harris at [email hidden] to find out how to get
involved.best, Eric Tokyo
Message follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric A. Smith Hot Damn!
Design 81-03-3959-5371 [email hidden](please distribute widely.)
An Emergency Call-to-Arms: A Five-Step Battle Plan for
YOUR FutureThis is a call to arms to you -- as an American and a
custodian of your nation's future. Please act as if your
life depends on it -- it well might.We have been led down a dark, perilous road.
The journey has touched us all, from mothers and fathers
burying children in a war over nonexistent WMD, to
firefighters and policemen promised vital funds only to be
cheated and asked to work for free. Millions of Americans
have been cut loose as corporations exploit foreign
workers on the cheap and CEOs gorge themselves on riches
unprecedented in history. While Americans take second and
even third jobs just feed their families, the Bush
Administration has poured America's wealth into the greedy
hands of defense contractors and tax-dodging
megacorporations, notorious companies like (#1 Bush
donator Kenneth Lay's) Enron or Cheney's wartime ripoff-
artists at Halliburton.Our environment, safety, economy, national security, labor
protection and Constitutionally-guaranteed rights have all
been gutted and left to die in a worker-hostile economy.NOW WE FIGHT BACK.
Here's what we're facing:
This November, the Bush election machine has more than
three times the spending power of its opponenets(1)And they are fighting dirty, just as they did in 2000,
when they purged Florida voter rolls(2), rioted to stop
recounts(3), barred citizens from voting (ibid) and even
threatened the Vice President and his family on their
front lawn (4).This year, through gerrymandering, data theft from
Congressional computers, impeachments and recess judicial
appointments, they are trying to consolidate their
unprecedented power. And they have a special election-
season surprise in store for us as well -- as the AFL-CIO
argued before the Supreme Court last December(5), the
Bushites have MADE IT A CRIME FOR THIRD PARTIES TO
CRITICIZE THE PRESIDENT OR SAY THINGS TO INFLUENCE THE
ELECTION during the election's most critical phase:"This blackout will become national in scope on July 31,
30 days before the August 30-September 2 Republican
National Convention . . . and it will then continue
without interruption throughout the remaining 60 days
until the November 2 election. Thus, from July 31, 2004
until the election, it will be a crime for a union,
corporation, or incorporated non-profit organization to
pay to broadcast any 'reference' to the President by
'name,' 'photograph,' 'drawing' or other 'unambiguous'
means anywhere in the United States." (6)They are ruthless, and will not concede victory without a
vicious fight. Expect the outlawing of gay marriage to
"divide and conquer", marginalize opponents and
consolidate support from the religious right, a base
estimated to be 30 million strong (7). Expect Ralph Nader
to syphon off votes yet again. Expect the Supreme Court to
halt recounts again. Expect a "surprise" discovery of WMD
even after Blix, David Kay and Iraq's scientists saying
they were all destroyed. (8) Expect the "suprise" capture
or "destruction" of Bin Laden conveniently close to the
election (9). Expect lots of scary terrorism warnings and
perhaps even an attack.(10) General Tommy Franks has even
suggested a second 9-11-scale attack will lead to martial
law in America (11).None of this should deter you; remember it was the same
group (Rumsfeld, Cheney, Baker, Bush Sr., Perle, etc.)
that armed and funded Hussein and Bin Laden in the first
place. The blood of our dead is therefore on their hands.We must not underestimate the ruthlessness of those
willing to start an international war based on known and
transparent lies -- virtually against the will of the
entire planet. Make no mistake; they are willing to throw
away American lives in their quest for global dominion.
And if you rise up and oppose them, you may be bullied,
harassed and threatened, perhaps even by the FBI.(12) YOU
MUST NOT LET THIS DETER YOU. WE MUST NOT BE BULLIED INTO
LETTING THEM SEIZE POWER AGAIN!For example, from the NY Times: "When a Times editorial
writer dropped in on one Palm Beach precinct where there
were reports of malfunctioning machines, county officials
called the police to remove him."(ibid)And here we come to the deep, dark heart of the matter:
This year 28% of the vote (and counting) will be tallied
on electronic voting machines or scanners, which have been
repeatedly hacked and can be used to fix an election --
all without a trace. Below you'll find a link to the
diagrammed, step-by-step report of how e-vote activist Bev
Harris hacked one(13). If you think this is exaggeration,
please follow the links listed below, where everything has
been well-documented and by the NY Times, the Washington
Post, CNN, ABC, CBS, the BBC, etc. (14)Once paperless, effortlessly hackable voting machines have
been installed, the situation will be PERMANENT -- we will
never know or be able to prove if an election has been
stolen. And if it HAS -- those who have stolen it CAN
NEVER BE VOTED OUT. And without the fear of voter
reprisal, whoever takes advantage of such a situation
could do literally anything they wanted and NEVER LOSE
POWER. It will mean the end of Democracy. And if you work
for an activist group, it will certainly mean the end of
your organization.The truth is, electronic voting machines can be outfitted
with printers within less than two days, at a minimal cost
(15); and Diebold machines already have an internal
printer (something the company has not been making public)
and Sequoia machines have a rear serial port to which any
of an infinite number of printers can attach easily.The Election Assistance Commission announced on March
22nd they would have a 45-day public hearing on
electronic voting.That means we now have 41 days to halt the spread of
untraceable e-voting; and less than 41 days to prepare to
fight the biggest power grab in human history.Do your part.
Help save America.
There will not be a second chance.
A 5-STEP BATTLE PLAN:
I. LOBBYING (20 minutes approximately)
Tell your representatives to support Bills H.R. 2239 and
ESPECIALLY 1980
(14)Online e-petitions:
mediafordemocracy.usevoteOpen ↗
truemajority.orgactionregisterOpen ↗
action.eff.orgindex.aspOpen ↗
verifiedvoting.orgverifiedvoting.orgOpen ↗ workingforchange-workingforchange-Open ↗
.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=14993 thepet-thepet-Open ↗
itionsite.com/takeaction/348035553?ts=1079111375&sign[par-
tn er_userID]=304336170&sign[memberID]=304336170&sign[par-
tnerID]=1 blackboxvoting.orgcleanvote.htmlOpen ↗Congress senate.govsenate.govOpen ↗ Toll free: 1-800-839-5276
visi.comcongressOpen ↗State elections boards blackboxvoting.orghtdoOpen ↗
cs/dcforum/DCForumID29/47.htmlState Attorneys General
naag.orgfull ag table.phpOpen ↗State Election Officials nased.orgnased.orgOpen ↗
Members, Natl. Assoc. of County Recorders, Election
Officials and Clerks
nacrc.orgst coord.htmOpen ↗Penelope Bonsall, national director of the Office of
Election Administration Office of Election Administration
Federal Election Commission 999 E Street, NW Washington,
DC 20463 [email hidden]
(202) 694-1095 (phone)
(202) 219-8500 (fax)II. MEDIA BLITZ (one to three hours approximately) Write
a ltter and email or fax it to Radio & tv stations,
newspapers & magazines in your area:
dmoz.orgNewsOpen ↗
newslink.orgnewslink.orgOpen ↗
cantufind.comamerican newspapers.htmOpen ↗ htt-
p://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Networks/
dmoz.orgStatioOpen ↗
ns/ dmoz.orgCableOpen ↗
dmoz.orgNetworksOpen ↗ dmo-dmo-Open ↗
z.org/Computers/Internet/Broadcasting/Information/National Media Contacts: CBS Evening News 212-975-3691
[email hidden]NBC Nightly News 212-664-4971 [email hidden]
Peter Jennings : ABC World News Tonight Tel : (212) 456-
4025, Fax : (212) 456-2381 [email hidden]Washington Post : [email hidden],
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] ,New York Times: [email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden], web-
[email hidden], [email hidden] USA Today:
[email hidden] Houston Chronicle:
[email hidden] San Francisco Chronicle:
[email hidden] Los Angeles Times:
[email hidden] Chicago Tribune: ctc-
[email hidden] Washington Post:
[email hidden] Newsday: [email hidden] New York
Daily News: [email hidden]CNN HeadLine News executives : [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden] ,
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden],USA Today : [email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden],Los Angeles Times : [email hidden] , op-
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden],
[email hidden] [email hidden],
[email hidden] ,REUTERS : [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden],
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] , [email hidden],
[email hidden] ,
[email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden]
, [email hidden] ,Associated Press: [email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden] , [email hidden] [email hidden] ,
[email hidden] [email hidden] , [email hidden]
[email hidden], [email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden], [email hidden],
[email hidden], [email hidden], [email hidden]III. WITNESS E-VOTE EVALUATIONS (one afternoon) Ask your
elections board (about any e-voting purchase
evaluations meetings to be held in your district. As
a member of the voting public, it is your legal right
to attend as a witness, although, out of convenience,
they may try to avoid giving you the information.
Insist on your rights.If you do attend as a witness, you may well be a victim of
intimidation tactics. Insist on voter-verified paper
ballots. Bev Harris has written comprehensive answers to
arguments you will hear. DO NOT BACK DOWN OR BE
INTIMIDATED BY CIVIL SERVANTS -- they are your EMPLOYEES,
paid by YOUR TAXES:From Bev Harris, blackboxvoting.orgblackboxvoting.orgOpen ↗
Assertion: "Upgrading the printer already in the (Diebold)
machine costs money" Fact: Diebold has stated in writing
that their pre-installed internal printers are sufficient
to generate a voter-verified paper trail.Assertion: "The paper is very expensive" Fact: No, thermal
paper is the cheapest made. And with an estimated maximmum
of 300 people voting at each touch screen. A LARGE
precinct may have seven touch screens, but many have just
two or three. It might cost $15 per precinct to print
those ballots.Assertion: "The paper won't last" Fact: If the report to
be by the machine will last the required amount of time,
the ballots will too, if printed on the same paper. The
printer is there to report totals at the polling place.Assertion: "the machines will jam" Fact: The printer is
similar to models used in supermarkets and WalMart.
Remember: the total number of transactions, will be about
300. Do supermarket and WalMart printers jam every 15
sales? No; They process thousands of printouts without
jamming.Assertion: "the ink will run out" Fact: There is no ink in
a thermal printerQuestion: "If a paper ballot record doesn't match a
machine record, which is the legal vote?" Fact: The voter-
verified paper must trump the machine unless a mechanical
defect or fraud is shown, because it is a physical record
seen and verified by thousands of individual voters,
whereas the machine is bits and bytes that can be changed
by a single technician!Assertion: "Paper ballot systems have been tampered with"
Fact: Yes, and machines have been frequently wrong as
well. Do not allow sidetracking of the discussion or
assertions that you are "against electronic voting" -- no,
we want them to put paper in a printer and use it for
auditing.Assertion: "Officials won't know what to do with paper
ballots and new laws must be written." Fact: Laws and
procedures set up for optical scans are applicable.Assertion: "A paper trail will only lead to demands for
more complicated and stringent auditing" Fact: Yes, it
will. We're asking for that anyway, with optical scanning.
It is still be cheap and efficient compared to many of the
changes currently being implemented to accomodate the
sales of more touchscreen machines.Question: "Why use machines at all if you're demanding
paper ballots?" Fact: Voting machines are helpful for the
visually impairedAssertion: "Paper ballots prevent the visually impaired
from voting" Facts: Wheelchair-assisted voters can use a
touch screen with the same efficiency whether or not there
is a paper printout, and the visually-impaired are can be
provided with headphones for these machines. Nor does a
paper printout hinder their ability to vote.Alternatives to the Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S machines
(operated by heavily partisan CEOs, designed to operate
WITHOUT a paper trail, and whose code and components are
not allowed to be examined) exist.Avante Systems has a machine that shows a printout through
a glass screen. After the voter confirms it is correct,
the paper ballot is droped into a storage box so it can be
checked against the machine totals and the AccuPoll system
has a scanner that can pass over the printed ballot to
verify votes.Sequioa machines can be attached to normal printers. If
your group has some at its disposal, by all means,
bring them.Alternative, secure e-voting machines you can suggest to
your elections officials: accupoll.comaccupoll.comOpen ↗
aitechnology.comhome.htmlOpen ↗IV. VOLUNTEER ELECTIONS MONITORING (three days
approximately, including preliminary training)
Vootewatch is organizing election monitor volunteers
here: votewatch.usregister.phpOpen ↗Bev Harris has outlined a point-by-point strategy on
specifically what to look for when monitoring electronic
voting machines. It is also recommended that you either
download her free e-book "Black Box Voting", or better
yet, purchase it here: blackboxvoting.orgblackboxvoting.orgOpen ↗From Bev Harris, blackboxvoting.orgblackboxvoting.orgOpen ↗
CITIZEN WATCHDOGS: What to look for and report -- Let's
get good at this before November!Optical-scan systems and absentee ballots: We have
information that all systems recognize carbon-containing
marks (soft lead pencil). Some DO NOT recognize all inks.
You may want to bring a soft lead pencil to the polling
place with you to mark your optical-scan ballots.All Diebold counties (AccuVote and AccuTouch are Diebold
brands) -- Demand that the poll workers print a report and
post a copy at the polling place at the end of the day,
whether they are required to or not. All Diebold machines,
both touch-screen and optical-scan, contain internal
printers and have the ability to print a polling place
results report. This takes 60 seconds and costs nothing,
and is an important check and balance to compare with the
county results from the GEMS system, which we believe to
contain security flaws. Votes should not change from the
polling place to the county.Report any instance of mismatched polling place/county
tabulations here. Do NOT accept the excuse that they won't
match because early votes, absentee, provisional, or
challenge votes were added into the polling place totals.
That is called "co-mingling" the data and is not an
acceptable record-keeping practice. Additional categories
of votes must be accounted for as separate line items.Sequoia touch-screens do not have an internal printer. A
printer can easily be hooked up with a serial port. If you
see printers, demand a polling place report.Watch for any "wandering vote tallies" on election night,
especially if any votes go DOWN. (Yes, this has been known
to happen).Late poll openings: Report these immediately and we'll try
to get cameras there. This is a form of vote suppression,
often occurring in minority areas.Late vote results: Report late incoming tallies. These can
be indicative of the county trying to resolve voting
machine anomalies before filing reports.Observe how many cords come in and out of the voting
machines. Report any evidence of networking the machines
together. Report any time you see more than a simple power
cord plugged in while the election is in progress.Wardrive election sites. See if you can pick up wireless
signals either during or after the election. Wireless
communication is not permitted. Also, report any use of
cell phones for vote transfers, which is also not
permitted.Election workers: Report the procedures used for training
if they seem insecure. For example, we have already had
reports that in Georgia, some poll workers were told to
take voting machines home after training; Georgia flag
artwork was uploaded right before the election; and other
unwise and insecure procedures were followed.Go visit the polling place at the end of the day and see
how secure it is. We had reports recently of machines left
in the polling place unattended.Felony watch: In some states, IT IS A FELONY for
technicians who are not sworn elections officials to touch
the vote database in any way, shape or form after votes
have been cast. In fact, if you look at Chapter 13 of
Black Box Voting, the San Luis Obispo incident was
probably illegal (Diebold tech Sophia Lee was tied to a
live vote database that appeared on the Internet five
hours before the polls closed).Watch for statistical anomalies. Look at everything. Time
is of the essence, as these analyses take some time and
there are only a few days before the election is
certified.V. LEGAL CHALLENGES (indeterminate)
Author Lynn Landes has questioned the constitutionality of
voting machines.
ecotalk.orgVotingMachinesUnconstitutional.htmOpen ↗If your organization has the wherewithal to raise a legal
challenge on these (or other grounds) here are some
resources below:Election campaign and civil rights lawyers listed for
every city: lawyers.findlaw.comElOpen ↗
ection%20Campaign%20&%20Politic al%20Law
lawyers.findlaw.comCivil%20RightsOpen ↗Institute for Justice: ij.orgindex.shtmlOpen ↗
Center for Indiviual Rights: cir-cir-Open ↗
usa.org/intake.htmlClass actions:
bigclassaction.comcivil rights.htmlOpen ↗Southeastern Legal Foundation:
southeasternlegal.orgsoutheasternlegal.orgOpen ↗Electronic Frontier Foundation attorneys: [email hidden]
[email hidden] [email hidden] [email hidden] [email hidden]
[email hidden]Other challenges: palmbeachpost.compalmbeachpost.comOpen ↗
content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/
local_news_04d49255058760a400d8.html
electionguardians.orgactions.htmOpen ↗
blackboxvoting.orgdieboldlawsuit.pdfOpen ↗Pax Christi is also organizing an international group of
elections monitors. More information here:
paxchristiusa.orgnews events more.aspOpen ↗REFERENCES
1 (GOP:$115,667,827 ; Dems:$44,175,502).
opensecrets.orgindex.aspOpen ↗2. Greg Palast, Harper's Magazine "The Great Florida Ex-
Con Game"
gregpalast.comdetail.cfmOpen ↗3 a."Unprecedented" -- internet preview of the film
unprecedented.orgUnprecedentedPreview.htmOpen ↗3 b. Lynn Landes: "Mission Impossible - Federal Observers
& Voting Machines"
ecotalk.orgFederalObservers.htmOpen ↗4. Barabara Walters interview"The Note": freerepublic.comfOpen ↗
news/791744/posts5.McConnell vs the Federal Election Commission
oyez.org1637Open ↗6. villagevoice.comhentoff.phpOpen ↗
7. "Bush Assures Evangelicals of Commitment to Marriage
Amendment" nytimes.compoliticsOpen ↗
/12EVAN.html?pagewanted=print&posi tion8a. Online Journal: "Wag the Osama" onlinejour-onlinejour-Open ↗
nal.com/Commentary/031004Burns/031004burns.html8b.NewsNet5: "Ridge Sidesteps Question On Bin Laden's
Capture" newsnet5.comdetail.htmlOpen ↗9. U.S. Unloading WMD in Iraq tehrantimes.com-tehrantimes.com-Open ↗
/Description.asp?Da=3/13/2004&Cat=4&Num=01110. Aljazeera.net: "Purported Al Qaida Statement" english.aljazeera.net2CDD53D6 7AF7Open ↗
40C7-AF88-32A16072F81B. htm11. NewsMax: "Tommy Franks: 'Martial Law Will Replace
Constitution After Next Terror Attack'"
infowars.comfranks martial.htmOpen ↗12. The New McCarthyism, the Progressive:
progressive.orgroth0102.htmlOpen ↗NY Times: "Florida as the next Florida"
nytimes.com14SUN1.htmlOpen ↗13. Scoop: "Inside a US Election Vote Counting Program"
scoop.co.nzS00065.htmOpen ↗14a. NY Times: "Hack the Vote"
truthout.org120303A.shtmlOpen ↗b. CBS: "Electronic Voting Causing Concern" --Open ↗
cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/03/eveningnews/main59118-
5.shtmlc. UK Independent: "All the President's Votes?" commondreams.org1013Open ↗
01.htmd. Salon: "Will the Election be Hacked?" archive-archive-Open ↗
.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/02/09/voting_machines/i-
ndex_np.ht mle. BBC: "Concerns over US Computer Voting"
news.bbc.co.uk3489877.stmOpen ↗f. ABC News: "Avoiding Another Florida Fiasco"s.go.com/sections/GMA/SciTech/Voting_machines_040305-
1.htmlg. "Comparison of Senate Bills 1980, 1986, and 2045"
verifiedvoting.orgsenate bill comparisoOpen ↗
n.asp15 "TrueVoteMD Supporters Testify at State Senate Hearing"
truevotemd.orgtruevotemd.orgOpen ↗You are encouraged to distribute this document freely
and widely.Contact: Eric A. Smith, Hot Damn! Design, Tokyo, Japan ?
81-03-3959-5371
--
Sprout the Mung Bean to reply...
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