Our friend John Bonifaz is running for Secretary of State of Massachusetts and he needs your help.
As you know, John is a dedicated leader who has spent years working with citizens across the country to protect the right to vote and to broaden citizen participation in the democratic process. As Massachusetts Secretary of State, John will fight to return voters to power and to end the big money dominance of our electoral process. I am proud to stand with John, and I hope you will join me in supporting him.
In 1994, John founded
· Leading the fight in the courts on behalf of voters and candidates for a full recount in Ohio of all the votes cast for President in the 2004 general election.
· Defending the Massachusetts Clean Elections Law, which was passed overwhelmingly by the voters of the Commonwealth in 1998. John led the effort to challenge the Massachusetts legislature’s refusal to fund the law and NVRI won a landmark ruling from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, forcing the state to provide the necessary funds to all qualified candidates running in the 2002 state elections.
· Working to overhaul the nation’s campaign finance system by defending mandatory campaign spending limits, public financing of elections, and other important campaign reforms. John and NVRI are pressing for a US Supreme Court review of a 1976 ruling which equated money with speech and sanctioned today’s system of unlimited campaign spending, and John has led a challenge to today’s exclusionary system on voting rights grounds, linking the movement for change in the way we finance our elections to earlier civil rights struggles.
In 1999, in recognition of his pathbreaking work with the National Voting Rights Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded John with a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, otherwise known as the “genius” award.
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. recently came to Boston to endorse John's candidacy:
"John Bonifaz will be a leader for Massachusetts and for the nation. Throughout his career, John has demonstrated his political courage time and time again by standing up when it counted … I can think of no better candidate for Secretary of State than John Bonifaz. He will make Massachusetts and the country proud."
As Secretary, John will press for a new bill of rights – a Voters’ Bill of Rights. A new set of guarantees that will make democracy in Massachusetts stronger and will provide an example for the country. You can read about his Voters’ Bill of Rights here:
http://www.johnbonifaz.com/votersbillofrights
John needs our support in order to win. I urge you to visit his campaign website today at www.johnbonifaz.com and to contribute as generously as you can. Massachusetts campaign finance law allows individual contributions up to $500 per calendar year, and your support this month is critical to help demonstrate the early viability of this campaign. If you can make a maximum contribution to the campaign today, that would be fantastic.
Any race for statewide office requires funds – and this race is no exception. John is challenging an incumbent in this race – an entrenched incumbent. Your early donation is critical to John’s campaign.
I also urge you to forward this message to your friends and colleagues.
In the wake of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, it is more important than ever that we have a Secretary of State like John Bonifaz who will fight for our democracy. I hope you will join me today in supporting this campaign for Massachusetts and for the nation.
P.S. If you prefer to contribute by check, you can mail a check payable to the Bonifaz Committee to:
Bonifaz Committee
P.O. Box 300007
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 02130
Please be sure to include your employer/occupation information along with the check. Thank you!
Before the Ohio Election Fraud, this blog was entitled "Fairness". Since November 2, 2004, a day that will live in infamy, this blog has been devoted exclusively to fighting the crimes committed against the citizens of Ohio, and against our American way of life, in the 2004 "election".
March 24, 2006
A chance to cast a vote for the Right to Vote itself: support the candidacy of our friend John Bonifaz
March 16, 2006
"The Silence of the Scams" By Diane Perlman
A shout out to Jack Gordon for bringing this important article to my attention:
Original Article published in OpEdNews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 14, 2006
The Silence of the Scams
By Diane Perlman
Newtopia Magazine April, 2006
Few Americans know about the historic event that happened on January 6, 2005, the official date for counting electoral votes. For the first time since 1877, congressmembers challenged the electoral count. Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Ohio, accompanied by the lone senator, Barbara Boxer of California, led the challenge of the Ohio vote count. Although massive fraud was reported around the country, only Ohio was officially cited.
It is curious that an issue so profound and consequential is barely on the radar screens of most Americans, especially those who voted for Kerry.
Though we are not certain of the actual outcome, statistically impossible discrepancies exist between results of exit polls and official counts in counties without paper trails. Also documented are patterns of anecdotes about corrupted procedures and accounts of strange behaviors, phenomena and illegal interventions in Ohio as well as other places. Many say there is fraud in every election, but there was far more in 2004 than in any previous year, and if the errors were random, about half would go in Kerry's favor. Virtually all went in Bush's favor.
But rather than demanding a thorough investigation, the American people seem eager to forget the incidents and put the election behind them, thus implicitly supporting such corruption.
A Political Psychological Puzzlement
Under what conditions do millions of allegedly "free" people knowingly acquiesce to being deceived, dominated and deprived of their own political will? How is it that even those who were politically engaged for the first time resign themselves to an unjust fate, refusing even to consider what happened to our country? Why do progressive citizens actively dismiss and even malign a small group of courageous, devoted people working day and night on their behalf to uncover, calculate, analyze, and evaluate the extensive, varied forms of criminal sabotage that undermined their democracy? How are Americans becoming complacent with escalating fraudulent activity? In other words, how do so many people live with the knowledge that they have been tricked before, were just tricked again--and then submit to life under the power of those who tricked them?
Why were hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians out for days in the freezing cold, refusing to accept fraud, while Americans are helplessly colluding with forces of domination? Granted, we face a conspiracy of silence in the media, a propaganda campaign discrediting exit polls (which are accurate in counties with paper trails and other countries), and a dismissal of those who challenge the vote as nuts, sore losers and "conspiracy theorists." Censorship, brainwashing and intimidation create an environment of passivity and fear in subtle yet powerful ways that keep the system going with the complicity of those who have been robbed.
We must wonder what is going on in the collective psyche that allows the systematic and progressive usurpation of power.
Complete article
March 10, 2006
3rd Election Official Indicted in Cuyahoga County
As reported in Cleveland Plain Dealer web site cleveland.com:
3rd worker indicted in probe of vote recount
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter
A third employee at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has been indicted as part of an investigation into the mishandling of ballots during the 2004 presidential recount.
Jacqueline Maiden, who was Elections Division director during the December 2004 recount, has been charged with six counts - three misdemeanors and three felonies - of failing to follow Ohio laws on how ballots are selected and reviewed during a recount. Maiden is the third highest ranking board employee.
The most serious charges carry a maximum of 18 months in prison.
Complete article
See also additional coverage at bradblog.com
March 09, 2006
Special Event to Honor Sherole Eaton and Paul Harmon, Ohio Honest Elections Heroes, Saturday March 11th, Columbus, Ohio
Progressive Honest Elections Salon
wine potluck, music, art and video
341 S 3rd St, Columbus (614-253-2571)
Up to 100 attendees during 6 hour event
Click below for details, map and RSVP:
http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=5376
NATIONAL VOTING REFORM PETITION:
http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/petition/votingreform/
SPECIAL GUESTS AT SALON:
This Saturday, at the Second Saturday Salon, Voting Reform groups
will present Sherole Eaton, whistleblower in Hocking County, and Paul
Harmon, who sued for honest recount in Licking County, with awards
for their bravery, personal sacrifice & persistence. This will take place
at 8:30 pm and we'll have a cake!!. The Salon runs from 6 pm-midnight
Also attending, courageous pastors of the progressive faith community
who signed a letter of complaint to the IRS against Rod Parsely's World
Harvest Church and Russell Johnson's Fairfield Christian Church. Come
let these wonderful pastors know how much you appreciate their efforts.
http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=5376
March 02, 2006
Election Justice News Newsletter by Gary Beckwith
help spread the truth by forwarding this newsletter
Election Justice News
keeping you informed about the struggle for democracy in America
March 2006
Greetings patriots,
There are so many recent developments relating to the electronic voting machines, I can hardly keep up. Every time I start to write this newsletter, another big story breaks, and I have to start over. Even though the media continues to ignore us, it feels like the concern about electronic voting is starting to take root a little more in the mainstream world. More people are starting to realize there is a problem. And at the same time, the folks who have been working on this for years are starting to have an impact. But there is still much work to do.
Welcome to Solar Bus's Election Justice News. Since our last newsletter, democracy continues to hang by a thread, like a chad on a punchcard. But it seems to be a very strong thread, that won't let go.
In this newsletter:
Electronic voting machines headed to the Supreme Court
New independent study confirms Diebold optical scan machines can be rigged
California un-de-certifies Diebold... but...
Things are heating up in Pennsylvania too
New Mexico Lawsuit goes forward
Big Call To Action could result in Diebold subpeonas!
Diebold whistleblower faces charges
100,000 errors found in Palm Beach County, FL
More Diebold in the news...
New Jersey: Electronic Voting violates the Constitution
300,000 voters were purged from Ohio prior to '04 election
Governor of Maryland 'No Longer Has Confidence' in Diebold
Candidates to support
The MUST READ BOOK gets more attention... and not
National Election Data Archive releases "irrefutable evidence" that Ohio's 2004 election results were manipulated
Volusia County FL: new evidence shows manipulation of vote counts, memory card errors
Do you have your free Election Truth CD-ROM yet?
Need a laugh (or a hundred)?
Bob Ney: a central figure in multiple scandals, including election fraud
----------------------------------
Electronic voting machines headed to the Supreme Court
While the TV talk shows discuss the judges on American Idol, a patriotic and brave woman has quitely and single-handedly taken her concerns about electronic voting machines all the way to the real judges - on the US Supreme Court. This case could have far reaching affects on how elections are conducted throughout our country.
Lynn Landes, one of the pioneering reporters who first started writing about the voting machines, filed her case in federal court in Philadelphia in 2004 and it has now reached the Supreme Court. If they rule in her favor, it would turn electronic voting upside down, if not ban it.
Article about Lynn's case:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060130/phm029.html?.v=38&printer=1
The official lawsuit:
http://www.ecotalk.org/lawsuitSC.htm
Black Box Voting organization comments on the lawsuit:
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/17790.html
----------------------------------------------------
New Berkeley study confirms Diebold machines can be rigged, without any way of being detected
This new study lays it to rest. It is possible to rig the memory cards in a way that cannot be detected. A few quotes from the report:
"This report summarizes the results of our review of some of the source code for the Diebold AV-OS
optical scan (version 1.96.6) and the Diebold AV-TSx touchscreen (version 4.6.4) voting machines.
"Memory card attacks are a real threat: We determined that anyone who has access to a
memory card of the AV-OS, and can tamper it (i.e. modify its contents), and can have
the modi ed cards used in a voting machine during election, can indeed modify the election
results from that machine in a number of ways. The fact that the the results are incorrect
cannot be detected except by a recount of the original paper ballots.
" [we found] 16 bugs in the implementation of the AccuBasic interpreter for the AV-OS. ... they could allow an attacker to completely control the behavior of the AV-OS. An attacker could change vote totals, modify reports, change the names of candidates, change the races being voted on, or insert his own code into the running rmware of the machine.
Get the full report, and show it to others, like your state's Director of Elections perhaps:
http://www.solarbus.org/election/docs/security_analysis_of_diebold.pdf
------------------------------------------
California un-de-certifies Diebold... but...
California is one of several states where the Diebold and electronic voting controversy is reaching a boiling point. It all started when the famous Hursti Hack in Florida caused the California Secretary of State to decertify Deibold, and call for a third party review of their software code. Then recently, Secretary McPherson reversed the decision, certifying Diebold in the State.
Then Debra Bowen, the Chair of Senate Elections Committee issued a statement saying the certification is in violation of the law. And since then she has written a letter directly to McPherson, strongly urging him to reverse his decision again, and accusing him of breaking the law. Could it get any hotter? Read on...
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002463.htm
Now, Senator Bowen has launched campaign asking people to email the Secretary of State and demand he de-certify the Diebold machines:
http://ga3.org/campaign/diebold
stay tuned... this story isn't over.
------------------------------------------
Things are heating up in Pennsylvania too
Organized citizens in Pennsylvania are doing everything they can to block the purchase of Diebold (and other electronic) systems. They are facing fierce opposition from the "powers to be."
Citizens file lawsuit against electronic voting machines
http://www.votepa.us/newsarchive/westmoreland-suit-timeline.html
Second group sues PA Secretary of State
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06031/646967.stm
Allegheny County PA (Pittsburgh) passes motion AGAINST DIEBOLD
http://legistar.county.allegheny.pa.us/detailreport/?key=3096
U.S. Justice Department threatens to sue Pennsylvania
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06055/660496.stm
-----------------------------------------
New Mexico: Lawsuit goes forward
New Mexico District Judge Eugenio Mathis authorized the plaintiff voters in Lopategui v. Vigil-Giron, et al. to proceed with the collection of evidence and preparation for a trial in which plaintiffs will seek a permanent injunction against use of inaccurate and unreliable electronic voting machines in New Mexico elections.
http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=804&Itemid=113
-------------------------------------------
Big Call To Action could result in Diebold subpeonas!
As Bev Harris from Black Box Voting writes, "We believe grass roots calls to action lose their punch when overused. We have waited until now because, like the Black Box Voting Hursti project, we know THIS effort is highly strategic and can create real change, quickly ... it has national implications."
Enough said? Please read the ACTION ITEM and JUST DO IT:
http://www.solarbus.org/election/articles/060301-action.shtml
---------------------------------------
Diebold whistleblower faces charges
A whistleblower in Los Angeles is in legal trouble and needs our help. In 2004, Stephen Heller exposed documents which provided smoking gun evidence that Diebold was using illegal, uncertified software in California voting machines. The docs also showed that Diebold's California attorneys (the powerful international law firm Jones Day) had told them they were in breach of the law for using uncertified software, but Diebold continued to use the uncertified software anyway. When Heller showed the documents to the Secretary of State, the Diebold machines were immediately decertified.
Diebold, the true criminal in this case, and their powerful international law firm Jones Day, have now pressed the L.A. District Attorney's office to hit Heller with 3 felonies, because of what he did.
People are asked to contact the LA District Attorney's office and to drop the charges on this patriotic person.
Fore more information, and how you can help:
Whistleblower Charged With Three Felonies for Exposing Diebold's Crimes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-soby-jr/whistleblower-charged-wit_b_16411.html
------------------------------------------
100,000 errors found in Palm Beach County, FL
An examination of Palm Beach County's electronic voting machine records from the 2004 election found possible tampering and tens of thousands of malfunctions and errors, a watchdog group said Thursday.
Associated Press article:
http://tinyurl.com/sybm2
Black Box Voting, who found the errors, comments:
http://tinyurl.com/ggq7v
Brad Friedman comments:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002466.htm
--------------------------------------------
More Diebold in the news...
How could we have a newsletter without an entire section devoted to Diebold, that sleezy, Republican owned voting machine company, whose CEO promised to help deliver Ohio to Bush.
The company continues to face several lawsuits, alleging fraud on many fronts, but none (yet) that relate to voting machines directly. In addition, several states are "calling their bluff" and asking them to reveal their software code. Several voting districts, and possibly full states, appear on the verge of de-certifying some or all of their voting machines. Some of the key developments with America's favorite secret vote counting company:
Diebold machines produce more votes than voters in Ohio, resulting in re-vote
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002379.htm
Under pressure in Alaska, Diebold agrees to a limited view of their central tabulator code.
Brad Blog reports: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002385.htm
Black Box Voting: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/17793.html
New information about Diebold's convicted felon who wrote the vote counting software code, including evidence he may have written some of the code while still in prison:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/17789.html
The Harri Hursti Hack and its Importance to our Nation
this is a MUST READ article:
http://tinyurl.com/cs6hc
"Hursti Hack" has ripple effects.
Last December, successful mock election hack in Leon County, Florida revealed there was banned "executable code" on the memory cards of a Diebold optical scan machine. The Elections Director then banned the machines and stated that he suspects the 2004 election was manipulated. (see http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002168.htm) Other states have taken note, and action. California has demanded that the code on all Diebold machines be inspected by a third party before the machines are certified. An elections official in Maryland who used to be a strong supporter of Diebold has written to the company demanding answers.
http://tinyurl.com/8t4xe
Two counties in Florida drop Diebold:
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/executive_tech/article.php/3571926
Stop Diebold Action item:
If you live in a state with Diebold machines, contact your Secretary of State office and ask if your system is in compliance with Federal Elections Commission 2002 Voting System Standards, section 4.2.2. This standard clearly states that the executable code that was found by the Hursti hack is non-compliant because of the huge security risk it creates. You can find the documentation here:
http://www.eac.gov/election_resources/v1/v1s4.doc
Class action lawsuit against Deibold for security fraud continues
https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/diebold_securities_classaction_erisa
-----------------------------------------------
New Jersey: Electronic Voting violates the Constitution
The Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, NJ has announced that all electronic voting machines used in New Jersey may violate New Jersey's Constitution and election laws. The lawsuit challenges the ability of New Jersey’s electronic voting machines to count votes accurately, and in accordance with election laws. The lawsuit is the first in the nation to successfully challenge electronic voting machines, and would have far reaching affects on other states. More info:
Press release from Rutgers School of Law: http://tinyurl.com/8n4z2
----------------------------------------------
300,000 voters were purged from Ohio prior to '04 election
The evidence of fraud in Ohio '04 continues to pour in, even years later. In this latest report from Free Press, investigators reveal that over 300,000 voter registrations were dropped, focused in Democratic strongholds like Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland:
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1832
--------------------------------------------
Governor of Maryland 'No Longer Has Confidence' in Diebold
In the letter sent by Maryland's Republican governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. to the State Board of Elections on Wednesday, he declares that he "no longer [has] confidence in the State Board of Elections’ ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006."
Citing the "widespread national concern about the reliability and security of electronic voting systems," the decertification and denial of certification of Diebold around the country, and the need to "get aggressive in responding to citizens' concerns over public confidence in the elections system," Ehrlich says it's time to demand paper ballots once again in the State of Maryland.
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002431.htm
----------------------------------------------
Candidates to support
The Solar Bus would like to express support for candidates that recognize the problems we face with electronic voting. We would also like to encourage all candidates to take this issue on, and voters to encourage the candidates to do so. Please support the following candidates because they will fight to fix these problems:
Bob Fitrakis, for Governor of Ohio: http://www.bobforohio.com/
Pat LaMarch, for Governor of Maine: http://www.pat2006.com/
Kevin Zeese, for US Senator, Maryland: http://kevinzeese.com/
Dennis Morrisseau, US Congress, Vermont: http://www.2ltmorrisseau.com/
John Bonifaz, Secretary of State, Mass: http://johnbonifaz.com/
Clint Curtis, US Congress, Florida: http://clintcurtis.com
-----------------------------------------------
The MUST READ BOOK gets more attention... and not
Mark Cripsin Miller is a seasoned and well respected author. He's an NYU professor who has written several popular books including "The Bush Dyslexicon," and he's made the rounds on talk shows many times before. But this time it's different. With his new book "Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and why they'll do it again unless we stop them," Mark has seen an odd pattern developing. He's welcome on Air America Radio and has been interviewed by several of the talk show hosts. But even though his book is very well researched and contains truthful and important information, NPR is avoiding him like the plague. They won't even allow underwriters to mention his book. This is consistent with NPR's policy of not discussing the electronic voting machine controversy, ever since the 2004 election took place. Could it have something to do with the fact that the NPR board of directors now consists of mainly Bush appointees? We can only wonder. Overall the book is getting exposure but not as much as it should. So consider calling your favorite talk show host and asking them to have Mark as a guest.
More on the book: http://www.solarbus.org/store/election.shtml#fooledagain
Listen to a radio interview with Mark Crispin Miller: http://tinyurl.com/nzap4
Printed interview on GNN: http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2113/Fooled_Again
------------------------------------
National Election Data Archive releases "irrefutable evidence" that Ohio's 2004 election results were manipulated
The National Election Data Archive (NEDA) is the first mathematical team to release a valid scientific analysis of the precinct-level 2004 Ohio presidential exit poll data "The Gun is Smoking: 2004 Ohio Precinct-level Exit Poll Data Show Virtually Irrefutable Evidence of Vote Miscount." The analysis is based on the most accurate statistical method yet devised for determining whether exit poll error, random variations, or vote count manipulation cause the discrepancies between exit polls and official vote tallies.
Press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb333209.php
Report: http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/OH/Ohio-Exit-Polls-2004.pdf
------------------
Volusia County FL: new evidence shows manipulation of vote counts, memory card errors:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/15675.html
---------------------------------------------
Do you have your free Election Truth CD-ROM yet?
If you don't have it yet, you need to get your copy of the free CD-ROM on election fraud. It contains over 2 hours of videos detailing the problems with electronic voting and election fraud. Also hundreds of pages of documentation. It was recently updated to include a great interview with author Mark Crispin Miller. Once you have a copy you can make more copies for your friends and your local election officials. You can download it for free, or have a copy mailed to you for just $2 to cover the shipping. More info here:
http://www.solarbus.org/election/cd
We should also mention that the new film "Electile Dysfunction" is a great way to educate yourself and your friends about this important subject. Pick up a copy in our online store:
http://www.solarbus.org/store/election.shtml#ed
---------------------------------------------
Need a laugh (or a hundred)?
Solar Bus has collected 100 of the funniest photos of Bush. Some are obviously not authentic, but you're guaranteed to laugh.
http://www.solarbus.org/politics/bushphotos
----------------------
Bob Ney: a central figure in multiple scandals, including election fraud
US Representative Bob Ney (R-Ohio) is emerging as a scandal magnet. If there's funny business going on, chances are he's involved. Ney is considered one of the key targets of the Abramoff investigation and will likely be indicted soon. Ney is also one of the writers of HAVA (the help America Vote Act), the purpose of which was, as Robert F. Kennedy recently said, not to help America vote, but to help America purchase Diebold voting machines. Well new information reveals that one of his former staffers was paid $180,000 by Diebold. Strange coincidence? I think not. It has also been recently discovered that Diebold paid money to Abramoff. What a tangled web they weave.
Brad Blog reports: http://bradblog.com/archives/00002261.htm
----------------------
this newsletter can be found online here:
http://www.solarbus.org/newsletters
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ELECTRONIC VOTING CONTROVERSY:
http://election.solarbus.org
Disclaimer and information
Election Justice News is a free newsletter provided by the Election Justic Center at the Solar Bus. Please forward this newsletter to others and help spread the word about the need for election reform.
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Election Justice News
keeping you informed about the struggle for democracy in America
March 2006
Greetings patriots,
There are so many recent developments relating to the electronic voting machines, I can hardly keep up. Every time I start to write this newsletter, another big story breaks, and I have to start over. Even though the media continues to ignore us, it feels like the concern about electronic voting is starting to take root a little more in the mainstream world. More people are starting to realize there is a problem. And at the same time, the folks who have been working on this for years are starting to have an impact. But there is still much work to do.
Welcome to Solar Bus's Election Justice News. Since our last newsletter, democracy continues to hang by a thread, like a chad on a punchcard. But it seems to be a very strong thread, that won't let go.
In this newsletter:
Electronic voting machines headed to the Supreme Court
New independent study confirms Diebold optical scan machines can be rigged
California un-de-certifies Diebold... but...
Things are heating up in Pennsylvania too
New Mexico Lawsuit goes forward
Big Call To Action could result in Diebold subpeonas!
Diebold whistleblower faces charges
100,000 errors found in Palm Beach County, FL
More Diebold in the news...
New Jersey: Electronic Voting violates the Constitution
300,000 voters were purged from Ohio prior to '04 election
Governor of Maryland 'No Longer Has Confidence' in Diebold
Candidates to support
The MUST READ BOOK gets more attention... and not
National Election Data Archive releases "irrefutable evidence" that Ohio's 2004 election results were manipulated
Volusia County FL: new evidence shows manipulation of vote counts, memory card errors
Do you have your free Election Truth CD-ROM yet?
Need a laugh (or a hundred)?
Bob Ney: a central figure in multiple scandals, including election fraud
----------------------------------
Electronic voting machines headed to the Supreme Court
While the TV talk shows discuss the judges on American Idol, a patriotic and brave woman has quitely and single-handedly taken her concerns about electronic voting machines all the way to the real judges - on the US Supreme Court. This case could have far reaching affects on how elections are conducted throughout our country.
Lynn Landes, one of the pioneering reporters who first started writing about the voting machines, filed her case in federal court in Philadelphia in 2004 and it has now reached the Supreme Court. If they rule in her favor, it would turn electronic voting upside down, if not ban it.
Article about Lynn's case:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060130/phm029.html?.v=38&printer=1
The official lawsuit:
http://www.ecotalk.org/lawsuitSC.htm
Black Box Voting organization comments on the lawsuit:
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/17790.html
----------------------------------------------------
New Berkeley study confirms Diebold machines can be rigged, without any way of being detected
This new study lays it to rest. It is possible to rig the memory cards in a way that cannot be detected. A few quotes from the report:
"This report summarizes the results of our review of some of the source code for the Diebold AV-OS
optical scan (version 1.96.6) and the Diebold AV-TSx touchscreen (version 4.6.4) voting machines.
"Memory card attacks are a real threat: We determined that anyone who has access to a
memory card of the AV-OS, and can tamper it (i.e. modify its contents), and can have
the modi ed cards used in a voting machine during election, can indeed modify the election
results from that machine in a number of ways. The fact that the the results are incorrect
cannot be detected except by a recount of the original paper ballots.
" [we found] 16 bugs in the implementation of the AccuBasic interpreter for the AV-OS. ... they could allow an attacker to completely control the behavior of the AV-OS. An attacker could change vote totals, modify reports, change the names of candidates, change the races being voted on, or insert his own code into the running rmware of the machine.
Get the full report, and show it to others, like your state's Director of Elections perhaps:
http://www.solarbus.org/election/docs/security_analysis_of_diebold.pdf
------------------------------------------
California un-de-certifies Diebold... but...
California is one of several states where the Diebold and electronic voting controversy is reaching a boiling point. It all started when the famous Hursti Hack in Florida caused the California Secretary of State to decertify Deibold, and call for a third party review of their software code. Then recently, Secretary McPherson reversed the decision, certifying Diebold in the State.
Then Debra Bowen, the Chair of Senate Elections Committee issued a statement saying the certification is in violation of the law. And since then she has written a letter directly to McPherson, strongly urging him to reverse his decision again, and accusing him of breaking the law. Could it get any hotter? Read on...
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002463.htm
Now, Senator Bowen has launched campaign asking people to email the Secretary of State and demand he de-certify the Diebold machines:
http://ga3.org/campaign/diebold
stay tuned... this story isn't over.
------------------------------------------
Things are heating up in Pennsylvania too
Organized citizens in Pennsylvania are doing everything they can to block the purchase of Diebold (and other electronic) systems. They are facing fierce opposition from the "powers to be."
Citizens file lawsuit against electronic voting machines
http://www.votepa.us/newsarchive/westmoreland-suit-timeline.html
Second group sues PA Secretary of State
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06031/646967.stm
Allegheny County PA (Pittsburgh) passes motion AGAINST DIEBOLD
http://legistar.county.allegheny.pa.us/detailreport/?key=3096
U.S. Justice Department threatens to sue Pennsylvania
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06055/660496.stm
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New Mexico: Lawsuit goes forward
New Mexico District Judge Eugenio Mathis authorized the plaintiff voters in Lopategui v. Vigil-Giron, et al. to proceed with the collection of evidence and preparation for a trial in which plaintiffs will seek a permanent injunction against use of inaccurate and unreliable electronic voting machines in New Mexico elections.
http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=804&Itemid=113
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Big Call To Action could result in Diebold subpeonas!
As Bev Harris from Black Box Voting writes, "We believe grass roots calls to action lose their punch when overused. We have waited until now because, like the Black Box Voting Hursti project, we know THIS effort is highly strategic and can create real change, quickly ... it has national implications."
Enough said? Please read the ACTION ITEM and JUST DO IT:
http://www.solarbus.org/election/articles/060301-action.shtml
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Diebold whistleblower faces charges
A whistleblower in Los Angeles is in legal trouble and needs our help. In 2004, Stephen Heller exposed documents which provided smoking gun evidence that Diebold was using illegal, uncertified software in California voting machines. The docs also showed that Diebold's California attorneys (the powerful international law firm Jones Day) had told them they were in breach of the law for using uncertified software, but Diebold continued to use the uncertified software anyway. When Heller showed the documents to the Secretary of State, the Diebold machines were immediately decertified.
Diebold, the true criminal in this case, and their powerful international law firm Jones Day, have now pressed the L.A. District Attorney's office to hit Heller with 3 felonies, because of what he did.
People are asked to contact the LA District Attorney's office and to drop the charges on this patriotic person.
Fore more information, and how you can help:
Whistleblower Charged With Three Felonies for Exposing Diebold's Crimes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-soby-jr/whistleblower-charged-wit_b_16411.html
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100,000 errors found in Palm Beach County, FL
An examination of Palm Beach County's electronic voting machine records from the 2004 election found possible tampering and tens of thousands of malfunctions and errors, a watchdog group said Thursday.
Associated Press article:
http://tinyurl.com/sybm2
Black Box Voting, who found the errors, comments:
http://tinyurl.com/ggq7v
Brad Friedman comments:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002466.htm
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More Diebold in the news...
How could we have a newsletter without an entire section devoted to Diebold, that sleezy, Republican owned voting machine company, whose CEO promised to help deliver Ohio to Bush.
The company continues to face several lawsuits, alleging fraud on many fronts, but none (yet) that relate to voting machines directly. In addition, several states are "calling their bluff" and asking them to reveal their software code. Several voting districts, and possibly full states, appear on the verge of de-certifying some or all of their voting machines. Some of the key developments with America's favorite secret vote counting company:
Diebold machines produce more votes than voters in Ohio, resulting in re-vote
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002379.htm
Under pressure in Alaska, Diebold agrees to a limited view of their central tabulator code.
Brad Blog reports: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002385.htm
Black Box Voting: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/17793.html
New information about Diebold's convicted felon who wrote the vote counting software code, including evidence he may have written some of the code while still in prison:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/17789.html
The Harri Hursti Hack and its Importance to our Nation
this is a MUST READ article:
http://tinyurl.com/cs6hc
"Hursti Hack" has ripple effects.
Last December, successful mock election hack in Leon County, Florida revealed there was banned "executable code" on the memory cards of a Diebold optical scan machine. The Elections Director then banned the machines and stated that he suspects the 2004 election was manipulated. (see http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002168.htm) Other states have taken note, and action. California has demanded that the code on all Diebold machines be inspected by a third party before the machines are certified. An elections official in Maryland who used to be a strong supporter of Diebold has written to the company demanding answers.
http://tinyurl.com/8t4xe
Two counties in Florida drop Diebold:
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/executive_tech/article.php/3571926
Stop Diebold Action item:
If you live in a state with Diebold machines, contact your Secretary of State office and ask if your system is in compliance with Federal Elections Commission 2002 Voting System Standards, section 4.2.2. This standard clearly states that the executable code that was found by the Hursti hack is non-compliant because of the huge security risk it creates. You can find the documentation here:
http://www.eac.gov/election_resources/v1/v1s4.doc
Class action lawsuit against Deibold for security fraud continues
https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/diebold_securities_classaction_erisa
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New Jersey: Electronic Voting violates the Constitution
The Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, NJ has announced that all electronic voting machines used in New Jersey may violate New Jersey's Constitution and election laws. The lawsuit challenges the ability of New Jersey’s electronic voting machines to count votes accurately, and in accordance with election laws. The lawsuit is the first in the nation to successfully challenge electronic voting machines, and would have far reaching affects on other states. More info:
Press release from Rutgers School of Law: http://tinyurl.com/8n4z2
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300,000 voters were purged from Ohio prior to '04 election
The evidence of fraud in Ohio '04 continues to pour in, even years later. In this latest report from Free Press, investigators reveal that over 300,000 voter registrations were dropped, focused in Democratic strongholds like Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland:
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1832
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Governor of Maryland 'No Longer Has Confidence' in Diebold
In the letter sent by Maryland's Republican governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. to the State Board of Elections on Wednesday, he declares that he "no longer [has] confidence in the State Board of Elections’ ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006."
Citing the "widespread national concern about the reliability and security of electronic voting systems," the decertification and denial of certification of Diebold around the country, and the need to "get aggressive in responding to citizens' concerns over public confidence in the elections system," Ehrlich says it's time to demand paper ballots once again in the State of Maryland.
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002431.htm
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Candidates to support
The Solar Bus would like to express support for candidates that recognize the problems we face with electronic voting. We would also like to encourage all candidates to take this issue on, and voters to encourage the candidates to do so. Please support the following candidates because they will fight to fix these problems:
Bob Fitrakis, for Governor of Ohio: http://www.bobforohio.com/
Pat LaMarch, for Governor of Maine: http://www.pat2006.com/
Kevin Zeese, for US Senator, Maryland: http://kevinzeese.com/
Dennis Morrisseau, US Congress, Vermont: http://www.2ltmorrisseau.com/
John Bonifaz, Secretary of State, Mass: http://johnbonifaz.com/
Clint Curtis, US Congress, Florida: http://clintcurtis.com
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The MUST READ BOOK gets more attention... and not
Mark Cripsin Miller is a seasoned and well respected author. He's an NYU professor who has written several popular books including "The Bush Dyslexicon," and he's made the rounds on talk shows many times before. But this time it's different. With his new book "Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election and why they'll do it again unless we stop them," Mark has seen an odd pattern developing. He's welcome on Air America Radio and has been interviewed by several of the talk show hosts. But even though his book is very well researched and contains truthful and important information, NPR is avoiding him like the plague. They won't even allow underwriters to mention his book. This is consistent with NPR's policy of not discussing the electronic voting machine controversy, ever since the 2004 election took place. Could it have something to do with the fact that the NPR board of directors now consists of mainly Bush appointees? We can only wonder. Overall the book is getting exposure but not as much as it should. So consider calling your favorite talk show host and asking them to have Mark as a guest.
More on the book: http://www.solarbus.org/store/election.shtml#fooledagain
Listen to a radio interview with Mark Crispin Miller: http://tinyurl.com/nzap4
Printed interview on GNN: http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2113/Fooled_Again
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National Election Data Archive releases "irrefutable evidence" that Ohio's 2004 election results were manipulated
The National Election Data Archive (NEDA) is the first mathematical team to release a valid scientific analysis of the precinct-level 2004 Ohio presidential exit poll data "The Gun is Smoking: 2004 Ohio Precinct-level Exit Poll Data Show Virtually Irrefutable Evidence of Vote Miscount." The analysis is based on the most accurate statistical method yet devised for determining whether exit poll error, random variations, or vote count manipulation cause the discrepancies between exit polls and official vote tallies.
Press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/1/prweb333209.php
Report: http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/OH/Ohio-Exit-Polls-2004.pdf
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Volusia County FL: new evidence shows manipulation of vote counts, memory card errors:
http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/2197/15675.html
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Do you have your free Election Truth CD-ROM yet?
If you don't have it yet, you need to get your copy of the free CD-ROM on election fraud. It contains over 2 hours of videos detailing the problems with electronic voting and election fraud. Also hundreds of pages of documentation. It was recently updated to include a great interview with author Mark Crispin Miller. Once you have a copy you can make more copies for your friends and your local election officials. You can download it for free, or have a copy mailed to you for just $2 to cover the shipping. More info here:
http://www.solarbus.org/election/cd
We should also mention that the new film "Electile Dysfunction" is a great way to educate yourself and your friends about this important subject. Pick up a copy in our online store:
http://www.solarbus.org/store/election.shtml#ed
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Need a laugh (or a hundred)?
Solar Bus has collected 100 of the funniest photos of Bush. Some are obviously not authentic, but you're guaranteed to laugh.
http://www.solarbus.org/politics/bushphotos
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Bob Ney: a central figure in multiple scandals, including election fraud
US Representative Bob Ney (R-Ohio) is emerging as a scandal magnet. If there's funny business going on, chances are he's involved. Ney is considered one of the key targets of the Abramoff investigation and will likely be indicted soon. Ney is also one of the writers of HAVA (the help America Vote Act), the purpose of which was, as Robert F. Kennedy recently said, not to help America vote, but to help America purchase Diebold voting machines. Well new information reveals that one of his former staffers was paid $180,000 by Diebold. Strange coincidence? I think not. It has also been recently discovered that Diebold paid money to Abramoff. What a tangled web they weave.
Brad Blog reports: http://bradblog.com/archives/00002261.htm
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this newsletter can be found online here:
http://www.solarbus.org/newsletters
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE ELECTRONIC VOTING CONTROVERSY:
http://election.solarbus.org
Disclaimer and information
Election Justice News is a free newsletter provided by the Election Justic Center at the Solar Bus. Please forward this newsletter to others and help spread the word about the need for election reform.
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March 01, 2006
Free Press Reports: Cuyahoga "Purged" 175,000 Voter Registrations
Report from the Columbus Free Press:
Did 308,000 cancelled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
February 28, 2006
While life goes on during the Bush2 nightmare, so does the research on what really happened here in 2004 to give George W. Bush a second term.
Pundits throughout the state and nation---many of them alleged Democrats---continue to tell those of us who question Bush's second coming that we should "get over it," that the election is old news.
But things get curiouser and curiouser.
In our 2005 compendium HOW THE GOP STOLE OHIO'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008 (www.freepress.org), we list more than a hundred different ways the Republican Party denied the democratic process in the Buckeye State. For a book of documents to be published September 11 by the New Press entitled WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, we are continuing to dig.
It turns out, we missed more than a few of the dirty tricks Karl Rove, Ken Blackwell and their GOP used to get themselves four more years. In an election won with death by a thousand cuts, some that are still hidden go very deep. Over the next few weeks we will list them as they are verified.
One of them has just surfaced to the staggering tune of 175,000 purged voters in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), the traditional stronghold of the Ohio Democratic Party. An additional 10,000 that registered to vote there for the 2004 election were lost due to "clerical error."
Complete article.
February 28, 2006
Brad Blog Reports: Cobb Demands Reinstatement of Ohio Recount Lawsuit
The Brad Blog reports that the Greens and Libertarians have demanded reinstatement of the their federal court 2004 Ohio recount suit:
Yes, they're still fighting for your vote to be counted. A Federal judge recently dismissed their lawsuit charging that the 2004 Ohio Presidential Recount was gamed. The reason for the dismissal: The point was now moot, since the 2004 recount procedures would not be used again. But, according to 2004 Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb, what the judge didn't know when he dismissed the case, was that Ohio's SOB SoS, J. Kenneth Blackwell, recently announced that recount procedures would be the same in the future. Game back on, says Cobb in his motion to re-instate the case.
See also report at VoteTrustUSA.org:
Cobb Demands Reinstatement of Ohio Recount Lawsuit
By Blair Bobier, Green Party Media Director
February 22, 2006
The Ohio Recount lawsuit, which was dismissed by a federal judge earlier this month, should be re-instated because Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is still using the same flawed recount procedures he did in 2004, according to a Motion filed Friday by lawyers for 2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb (pictured at right).
"Our suit was dismissed on the basis that Blackwell's obstruction of the 2004 presidential recount is now a moot issue. However, in making his ruling, the judge was unaware that Blackwell issued recount guidelines in 2005 which are identical to the inadequate procedures he used in 2004. Our Motion to the Court asks the judge to take this new information into account and to deny Blackwell's Motion to Dismiss the case," said Blair Bobier, the Media Director for the Green Party's 2004 presidential campaign.
Lawyers representing Cobb and his Libertarian counterpart, Michael Badnarik, filed the Motion to Alter and Amend on February 17, 2006, in the U.S. District Court in Toledo, Ohio.
On November 17, 2005, Secretary Blackwell issued Directive No. 2005-32 which established that the recount procedures used in Ohio in 2005 would be identical to those used in 2004.
Complete article
Action Memo to Help Support Diebold Whistleblower
Steve Heller is a whistleblower; he is alleged to have seen and then exposed legal documents showing that Diebold Election Systems, Inc., the country's leading manufacturer of electronic voting machines and voting machine software, was using illegal, uncertified software in their California voting machines. He has been charged with 3 felonies, which is an outrageous abuse of the law and of power. Details on what is happening to Steve and how to help are in the following links. Please feel free to forward this memo to anyone and everyone. Read on...
First, here is a link to a story in the Feb. 22 edition of the Los Angeles Times.
Man Pleads Not Guilty in Voting Device Case
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-diebold22feb22,1,7096292.story
Now, here are more details on this situation, with corroborating links, from I post I wrote for Arianna Huffington's blog. This is the link with important information on how to help Steve Heller.
Whistleblower Charged With Three Felonies for Exposing Diebold's Crimes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-soby-jr/whistleblower-charged-wit_b_16411.html
Another way to help Steve is by writing a letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times. You can use the same talking points from my post (the link above) in your letter to the editor. Directions on how to send a letter to the editor can be found at this link under http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/ Their snail mail address is Letters to the Editor, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. They want letters to be 150 words or less, with your name, address and daytime phone number.
The next link is to a post from the same blog written by Lyn Davis Lear
Whistleblower Hero is Threatened with Prison for Exposing Diebold
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lyn-lear/whistleblower-hero-is-thr_b_16409.html
I thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give Steve. He is a patriot and a whistleblower and should not be prosecuted. And again, this memo can be forwarded to anyone you think might be interested.
Sincerely,
Peter Soby, Jr.
First, here is a link to a story in the Feb. 22 edition of the Los Angeles Times.
Man Pleads Not Guilty in Voting Device Case
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-diebold22feb22,1,7096292.story
Now, here are more details on this situation, with corroborating links, from I post I wrote for Arianna Huffington's blog. This is the link with important information on how to help Steve Heller.
Whistleblower Charged With Three Felonies for Exposing Diebold's Crimes
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-soby-jr/whistleblower-charged-wit_b_16411.html
Another way to help Steve is by writing a letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times. You can use the same talking points from my post (the link above) in your letter to the editor. Directions on how to send a letter to the editor can be found at this link under http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/ Their snail mail address is Letters to the Editor, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. They want letters to be 150 words or less, with your name, address and daytime phone number.
The next link is to a post from the same blog written by Lyn Davis Lear
Whistleblower Hero is Threatened with Prison for Exposing Diebold
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lyn-lear/whistleblower-hero-is-thr_b_16409.html
I thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give Steve. He is a patriot and a whistleblower and should not be prosecuted. And again, this memo can be forwarded to anyone you think might be interested.
Sincerely,
Peter Soby, Jr.
February 14, 2006
CASE OHIO Newsletter
CASE OHIO NEWSLETTER
Editor note: In Ohio, the Republican dominated government passed HB3, which effectively disenfranchised up to 3 hundred thousand eligible (and mostly democratic) voters, while at the same time making a recount unaffordable, prohibiting a legal challenge to the election result, and…believe it or not…removing the requirement for post election audit of electronic voting machines.
Ohio’s HAVA: make it Harder for Americans to Vote Act
From the CASE Ohio press release: In summary, the worst features of HB 3 are in the recent version and include:
Restrictive ID requirements (Sec. 3505.18)
Deletion of the recount as machine audit (Sec. 3506.20)
Unaffordable recount cost (Sec. 3515.03)
Prohibition of election contests (Sec. 3515.08)
CASE Ohio, Ohio Vigilance, and the J30 Coalition strongly opposed HB3, in addition Common Cause listed additional groups opposed:
Common Cause/Ohio
League of Women Voters of Ohio
People for the American Way Ohio
Ohio Conference of NAACP
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Ohio Citizen Action
Greater Cleveland Voter Coalition
League of Young Voters OHIO
Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)
LAWSUIT AGAINST DIEBOLD BEGINS THIS WEEK
Scott+Scott, LLC to File Lead Plaintiff Motion in Class Against Diebold This Monday
Saturday, February 11, 2006, Finanzen.net
Excerpt from the article:
COLCHESTER, Conn., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ — Scott+Scott, LLC (http://www.scott-scott.com/), which initiated on December 13, 2005 the first securities fraud class action against Diebold, Inc. ("Diebold" or the "Company") and certain of its officers and directors, will file a Motion for Lead Plaintiff and Lead Counsel this Monday, February 13, 2006.
According to the complaint, Diebold "remained unable to assure the quality and working order of its voting machine products."
"It is further alleged that the Company's false and misleading statements served to conceal the dimensions and scope of internal problems at the Company . . culminating in false representations of astonishingly low and incredibly inaccurate restructuring charges for the 2005 fiscal year . . ."
"The complaint also alleges over $2.7 million of insider trading proceeds obtained by individual defendants during the Class Period."
The action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (No. 05CV2873). The Class is defined in the complaint drafted by Scott+Scott as those who purchased Diebold securities between October 22, 2003, and September 21, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period").
----------------------------------------------------
Free Press: Did the NSA help Bush hack the vote? January 9, 2006
(excerpt from a longer article http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2006/1294 )
Would a president who believes he has spy powers, the right to torture, the ability to wage illegal wars based on bogus, manufactured intelligence reports, simply refuse to spy on Kerry and rig an election electronically? In Ohio, two burglaries occurred against the Democratic Party in Lucas County and Franklin County just prior to 2004 election involving computer theft.
Congress must investigate whether Bush used the NSA for partisan political gain during the 2004 election, and whether any NSA Bush operatives or other members of the security industrial complex had access to e-voting machines, central tabulators or the communication lines that delivered the voting results.
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Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
Gore Vidal Delivers State of the Union: "Let the Powers That Be Know There is Something Called We the People of the U.S. and all Sovereignty Rests in Us."
(excerpt http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/31/1532246 )
And now here we are planning new wars, ongoing wars in the Middle East. And so as he comes with his State of the Union, which he is going to justify eavesdropping without judicial warrants on anybody in the United States that he wants to listen in on. This is what we call dictatorship. Dictatorship. Dictatorship. And it is time that we objected. Don't say wait ‘til the next election and do it through that. We can't trust the elections, thanks to Diebold and ES&S and all the electronic devices which are being flogged across the country to make sure that elections can be so rigged that the villains will stay in power.
In Martin Luther King Day address, Gore compares wiretapping of Americans to surveillance of King
RAW STORY Published: January 16, 2006
(excerpt http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Text_of_Gore_speech_0116.html)
And one result was the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA), which was enacted expressly to ensure that foreign intelligence surveillance would be presented to an impartial judge to verify that there was indeed a sufficient cause for the surveillance. It included ample flexibility and an ability for the executive to move with as much speed as the executive desired. I voted for that law during my first term in Congress and for almost thirty years the system has proven a workable and valued means of affording a level of protection for American citizens, while permitting foreign surveillance to continue whenever it is necessary.
And yet, just one month ago, Americans awoke to the shocking news that in spite of this long settled law, the Executive Branch has been secretly spying on large numbers of Americans for the last four years and eavesdropping on, and I quote the report, "large volumes of telephone calls, e-mail messages, and other Internet traffic inside the United States." The New York Times reported that the President decided to launch this massive eavesdropping program "without search warrants or any new laws that would permit domestic intelligence collection."
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Election Integrity News - January 23, 2006
This Week's Quotes: "If there is some way to slip in interpreted code, then we have no way to control what the machine is executing." Michael Shamos, Carnegie Mellon University
"You have to admit these systems are vulnerable and act accordingly," Harri Hursti, computer programmer
"More troubling than the test itself was the manner in which Diebold simply failed to respond to my concerns or the concerns of citizens who believe in American elections, I really think they're not engaged in this discussion of how to make elections safer." Ion Sancho, Supervior of Elections, Leon County, Florida
- New legislation will take the state of Virginia a long way toward giving the voters in the state confidence that their vote is being correctly counted. As reported by VoteTrustUSA both HB 1243 and SB 424 would require that electronic voting machines be equipped to produce a paper record of each vote that can be verified by the voter and used in audits and recounts. They further mandate a 5% random post election manual audit of 5% of the voter-verified paper records. In the case of a discrepancy between the paper and electronic totals, the paper record shall take precedence in a recount unless the court finds clear and convincing evidence that there is reason to do otherwise. VoteTrustUSA has joined Virginia Verified Voting and The New Electoral Reform Alliance for Virginia in an Action Alert encouraging Virginia voters to send an email to their legislators to urge them to pass this legislation.
Election Integrity News - January 16, 2006
This Week's Quote: "The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic traditions and it is democracy turned upside down." Martin Luther King, Washington D.C., 1957
- The story that I hate to relate is the betrayal of Leon County, Florida and Ion Sancho by ES&S. VoteTrustUSA reports that after agreements and handshakes by Mr. Sancho and ES&S a message was left on Mr. Sancho's cell phone from ES&S telling him that there would be no deal and that ES&S would not be able to provide any voting system to Leon County. According to the Tallahassee Democrat Mr. Sancho is now looking to the lawyers to see what actions can be taken against ES&S for their betrayal.
Election Integrity News - January 9, 2006
We are always happy to announce that another state has joined the growing list of "Green States" which require a voter verified paper audit trail. The list became 26 strong this week with the addition of Wisconsin when Governor Doyle signed Assembly Bill 627 into law.
Election Integrity News - January 2, 2006
A National Action Alert was put out this past week with the revelations of Diebold software problems and the admitted presence of federally banned 'interpreted' code on their voting machines. The Action Alert asks citizens to send an email to the Election Assistance Commission commissioners and the Independent Test Authority Secretariat to demand that they do their job and insist that the ITA does its job in decertifying the Diebold software until such time as the banned software is removed.
OHIO NEWS:
OH: Cuyahoga County - Leaders split over electronic voting
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1138354781287440.xml&coll=2
OH: Ottawa County - County cuts precincts to save money; others add polling places
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/13728477.htm
OH: Tuscarawas County - County to Diebold: About our machines?
http://www.timesreporter.com/left.php?ID=49996&r=0
OH: Warren County - Warren Co. pick has baggage. Elections board candidate had violation in '04 run
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060124/NEWS01/601240364/1077/NEWS01
OH: Lawrence County - A Vote for Change
http://www.irontontribune.com/articles/2006/01/22/news/news196.txt
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Forum: Computers and voting -- a dangerous mix
Computer scientists Daniel Sleator and David Eckhardt say that Allegheny County should delay buying newfangled machines until there is no doubt about them
Excerpt from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06036/649848.stm Sunday, February 05, 2006
The future of our voting is up for grabs. Allegheny County is about to upgrade our voting machine infrastructure to dramatically increase accessibility to the blind and the disabled -- without causing a local budget crunch. At the same time, we're risking the integrity and fairness of every vote we'll cast for the next decade. Concerned voters -- and we hope that means you -- should speak up right now to protect your voting rights.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Verifiable voting system imperative
Excerpt from Pelican Press, Sarasota Fla, 2/12/06:
http://www.pelicannews.com/main.asp?SectionID=132&SubSectionID=227&ArticleID=1814&TM=64962.76
Transparency and verifiability of electoral processes are essential to our system of representative democracy. Not only must election results be both accurate and not subject to clandestine manipulation, but voters also need to have confidence that their ballots are being cast and counted in accordance with their wishes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instant runoff voting (IRV) on the move, from FairVote.org
In our work on IRV we had our best state legislative season ever, building on advocacy from national figures like Howard Dean and senators Barack Obama and John McCain and on San Francisco’s successful implementation of IRV in 2004 and 2005. There were stand-alone IRV laws passed in Arkansas (requiring IRV absentee ballots for all overseas military voters in runoff elections), Vermont (giving Burlington the green light to implement IRV in its March 2006 mayoral elections) and Washington (authorizing IRV in three major cities – Spokane, Tacoma and
Vancouver). We saw serious attention paid to IRV in many other states, including a bill to establish an IRV pilot program that passed North Carolina’s house. Takoma Park (MD) voted overwhelmingly for IRV with
84%, and there is serious talk of IRV for Vermont’s 2006 statewide elections.IRV may be on the ballot in several cities next year, including Cincinnati (OH), Gainesville (FL), Aspen (CO) and Minneapolis (MN). With our support we anticipate new successes, given that every IRV campaign since the San Francisco victory (including efforts in
Berkeley, CA, Burlington, VT, Ferndale, MI and now Takoma Park) has won by a landslide. IRV also keeps advancing on campuses, with successful new uses in student president elections in 2005 at schools like
Dartmouth and the Universities of Oklahoma and Virginia and with runaway victories at schools like the University of Minnesota, U.C. - Chico and Portland State. The use IRV and choice voting at UC-Davis already has had a direct impact on governmental elections: Davis students persuaded a charter commission to recommend these voting
methods for city elections and are poised to convince the city council to place them on the June 2006 ballot.
Read the complete election reform report, FairVote’s Campaign for Free and Fair Elections in America, at:
http://www.fairvote.org/?page=1711
----------------------------
TAKE ACTION!
Take local action via Democracy for America:
http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/petition/votingreform/index.php?refid=24343efce6d33e42
Support Congressman Holts HB550 "THE VOTER CONFIDENCE AND INCREASED ACCESSIBLITY ACT OF 2005" http://holt.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=6282&type=Home
Election Reform Activists are discussing various ways to improve the integrity of the election process, including Post Election Audits, Parallel Elections, Exit Poll support, pre-election voter registration verification, and other initatives. Volunteers will be needed….see future newsletters for details.
This newsletter edited by Pete Johnson. Please submit comments and articles for the next newsletter to pjohnso6@insight.rr.com.
Editor note: In Ohio, the Republican dominated government passed HB3, which effectively disenfranchised up to 3 hundred thousand eligible (and mostly democratic) voters, while at the same time making a recount unaffordable, prohibiting a legal challenge to the election result, and…believe it or not…removing the requirement for post election audit of electronic voting machines.
Ohio’s HAVA: make it Harder for Americans to Vote Act
From the CASE Ohio press release: In summary, the worst features of HB 3 are in the recent version and include:
Restrictive ID requirements (Sec. 3505.18)
Deletion of the recount as machine audit (Sec. 3506.20)
Unaffordable recount cost (Sec. 3515.03)
Prohibition of election contests (Sec. 3515.08)
CASE Ohio, Ohio Vigilance, and the J30 Coalition strongly opposed HB3, in addition Common Cause listed additional groups opposed:
Common Cause/Ohio
League of Women Voters of Ohio
People for the American Way Ohio
Ohio Conference of NAACP
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Ohio Citizen Action
Greater Cleveland Voter Coalition
League of Young Voters OHIO
Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)
LAWSUIT AGAINST DIEBOLD BEGINS THIS WEEK
Scott+Scott, LLC to File Lead Plaintiff Motion in Class Against Diebold This Monday
Saturday, February 11, 2006, Finanzen.net
Excerpt from the article:
COLCHESTER, Conn., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ — Scott+Scott, LLC (http://www.scott-scott.com/), which initiated on December 13, 2005 the first securities fraud class action against Diebold, Inc. ("Diebold" or the "Company") and certain of its officers and directors, will file a Motion for Lead Plaintiff and Lead Counsel this Monday, February 13, 2006.
According to the complaint, Diebold "remained unable to assure the quality and working order of its voting machine products."
"It is further alleged that the Company's false and misleading statements served to conceal the dimensions and scope of internal problems at the Company . . culminating in false representations of astonishingly low and incredibly inaccurate restructuring charges for the 2005 fiscal year . . ."
"The complaint also alleges over $2.7 million of insider trading proceeds obtained by individual defendants during the Class Period."
The action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (No. 05CV2873). The Class is defined in the complaint drafted by Scott+Scott as those who purchased Diebold securities between October 22, 2003, and September 21, 2005, inclusive (the "Class Period").
----------------------------------------------------
Free Press: Did the NSA help Bush hack the vote? January 9, 2006
(excerpt from a longer article http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2006/1294 )
Would a president who believes he has spy powers, the right to torture, the ability to wage illegal wars based on bogus, manufactured intelligence reports, simply refuse to spy on Kerry and rig an election electronically? In Ohio, two burglaries occurred against the Democratic Party in Lucas County and Franklin County just prior to 2004 election involving computer theft.
Congress must investigate whether Bush used the NSA for partisan political gain during the 2004 election, and whether any NSA Bush operatives or other members of the security industrial complex had access to e-voting machines, central tabulators or the communication lines that delivered the voting results.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
Gore Vidal Delivers State of the Union: "Let the Powers That Be Know There is Something Called We the People of the U.S. and all Sovereignty Rests in Us."
(excerpt http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/31/1532246 )
And now here we are planning new wars, ongoing wars in the Middle East. And so as he comes with his State of the Union, which he is going to justify eavesdropping without judicial warrants on anybody in the United States that he wants to listen in on. This is what we call dictatorship. Dictatorship. Dictatorship. And it is time that we objected. Don't say wait ‘til the next election and do it through that. We can't trust the elections, thanks to Diebold and ES&S and all the electronic devices which are being flogged across the country to make sure that elections can be so rigged that the villains will stay in power.
In Martin Luther King Day address, Gore compares wiretapping of Americans to surveillance of King
RAW STORY Published: January 16, 2006
(excerpt http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Text_of_Gore_speech_0116.html)
And one result was the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA), which was enacted expressly to ensure that foreign intelligence surveillance would be presented to an impartial judge to verify that there was indeed a sufficient cause for the surveillance. It included ample flexibility and an ability for the executive to move with as much speed as the executive desired. I voted for that law during my first term in Congress and for almost thirty years the system has proven a workable and valued means of affording a level of protection for American citizens, while permitting foreign surveillance to continue whenever it is necessary.
And yet, just one month ago, Americans awoke to the shocking news that in spite of this long settled law, the Executive Branch has been secretly spying on large numbers of Americans for the last four years and eavesdropping on, and I quote the report, "large volumes of telephone calls, e-mail messages, and other Internet traffic inside the United States." The New York Times reported that the President decided to launch this massive eavesdropping program "without search warrants or any new laws that would permit domestic intelligence collection."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Election Integrity News - January 23, 2006
This Week's Quotes: "If there is some way to slip in interpreted code, then we have no way to control what the machine is executing." Michael Shamos, Carnegie Mellon University
"You have to admit these systems are vulnerable and act accordingly," Harri Hursti, computer programmer
"More troubling than the test itself was the manner in which Diebold simply failed to respond to my concerns or the concerns of citizens who believe in American elections, I really think they're not engaged in this discussion of how to make elections safer." Ion Sancho, Supervior of Elections, Leon County, Florida
- New legislation will take the state of Virginia a long way toward giving the voters in the state confidence that their vote is being correctly counted. As reported by VoteTrustUSA both HB 1243 and SB 424 would require that electronic voting machines be equipped to produce a paper record of each vote that can be verified by the voter and used in audits and recounts. They further mandate a 5% random post election manual audit of 5% of the voter-verified paper records. In the case of a discrepancy between the paper and electronic totals, the paper record shall take precedence in a recount unless the court finds clear and convincing evidence that there is reason to do otherwise. VoteTrustUSA has joined Virginia Verified Voting and The New Electoral Reform Alliance for Virginia in an Action Alert encouraging Virginia voters to send an email to their legislators to urge them to pass this legislation.
Election Integrity News - January 16, 2006
This Week's Quote: "The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic traditions and it is democracy turned upside down." Martin Luther King, Washington D.C., 1957
- The story that I hate to relate is the betrayal of Leon County, Florida and Ion Sancho by ES&S. VoteTrustUSA reports that after agreements and handshakes by Mr. Sancho and ES&S a message was left on Mr. Sancho's cell phone from ES&S telling him that there would be no deal and that ES&S would not be able to provide any voting system to Leon County. According to the Tallahassee Democrat Mr. Sancho is now looking to the lawyers to see what actions can be taken against ES&S for their betrayal.
Election Integrity News - January 9, 2006
We are always happy to announce that another state has joined the growing list of "Green States" which require a voter verified paper audit trail. The list became 26 strong this week with the addition of Wisconsin when Governor Doyle signed Assembly Bill 627 into law.
Election Integrity News - January 2, 2006
A National Action Alert was put out this past week with the revelations of Diebold software problems and the admitted presence of federally banned 'interpreted' code on their voting machines. The Action Alert asks citizens to send an email to the Election Assistance Commission commissioners and the Independent Test Authority Secretariat to demand that they do their job and insist that the ITA does its job in decertifying the Diebold software until such time as the banned software is removed.
OHIO NEWS:
OH: Cuyahoga County - Leaders split over electronic voting
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1138354781287440.xml&coll=2
OH: Ottawa County - County cuts precincts to save money; others add polling places
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/13728477.htm
OH: Tuscarawas County - County to Diebold: About our machines?
http://www.timesreporter.com/left.php?ID=49996&r=0
OH: Warren County - Warren Co. pick has baggage. Elections board candidate had violation in '04 run
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060124/NEWS01/601240364/1077/NEWS01
OH: Lawrence County - A Vote for Change
http://www.irontontribune.com/articles/2006/01/22/news/news196.txt
---------------------------------------------------------------
Forum: Computers and voting -- a dangerous mix
Computer scientists Daniel Sleator and David Eckhardt say that Allegheny County should delay buying newfangled machines until there is no doubt about them
Excerpt from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06036/649848.stm Sunday, February 05, 2006
The future of our voting is up for grabs. Allegheny County is about to upgrade our voting machine infrastructure to dramatically increase accessibility to the blind and the disabled -- without causing a local budget crunch. At the same time, we're risking the integrity and fairness of every vote we'll cast for the next decade. Concerned voters -- and we hope that means you -- should speak up right now to protect your voting rights.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Verifiable voting system imperative
Excerpt from Pelican Press, Sarasota Fla, 2/12/06:
http://www.pelicannews.com/main.asp?SectionID=132&SubSectionID=227&ArticleID=1814&TM=64962.76
Transparency and verifiability of electoral processes are essential to our system of representative democracy. Not only must election results be both accurate and not subject to clandestine manipulation, but voters also need to have confidence that their ballots are being cast and counted in accordance with their wishes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instant runoff voting (IRV) on the move, from FairVote.org
In our work on IRV we had our best state legislative season ever, building on advocacy from national figures like Howard Dean and senators Barack Obama and John McCain and on San Francisco’s successful implementation of IRV in 2004 and 2005. There were stand-alone IRV laws passed in Arkansas (requiring IRV absentee ballots for all overseas military voters in runoff elections), Vermont (giving Burlington the green light to implement IRV in its March 2006 mayoral elections) and Washington (authorizing IRV in three major cities – Spokane, Tacoma and
Vancouver). We saw serious attention paid to IRV in many other states, including a bill to establish an IRV pilot program that passed North Carolina’s house. Takoma Park (MD) voted overwhelmingly for IRV with
84%, and there is serious talk of IRV for Vermont’s 2006 statewide elections.IRV may be on the ballot in several cities next year, including Cincinnati (OH), Gainesville (FL), Aspen (CO) and Minneapolis (MN). With our support we anticipate new successes, given that every IRV campaign since the San Francisco victory (including efforts in
Berkeley, CA, Burlington, VT, Ferndale, MI and now Takoma Park) has won by a landslide. IRV also keeps advancing on campuses, with successful new uses in student president elections in 2005 at schools like
Dartmouth and the Universities of Oklahoma and Virginia and with runaway victories at schools like the University of Minnesota, U.C. - Chico and Portland State. The use IRV and choice voting at UC-Davis already has had a direct impact on governmental elections: Davis students persuaded a charter commission to recommend these voting
methods for city elections and are poised to convince the city council to place them on the June 2006 ballot.
Read the complete election reform report, FairVote’s Campaign for Free and Fair Elections in America, at:
http://www.fairvote.org/?page=1711
----------------------------
TAKE ACTION!
Take local action via Democracy for America:
http://tools.democracyforamerica.com/petition/votingreform/index.php?refid=24343efce6d33e42
Support Congressman Holts HB550 "THE VOTER CONFIDENCE AND INCREASED ACCESSIBLITY ACT OF 2005" http://holt.house.gov/display2.cfm?id=6282&type=Home
Election Reform Activists are discussing various ways to improve the integrity of the election process, including Post Election Audits, Parallel Elections, Exit Poll support, pre-election voter registration verification, and other initatives. Volunteers will be needed….see future newsletters for details.
This newsletter edited by Pete Johnson. Please submit comments and articles for the next newsletter to pjohnso6@insight.rr.com.
February 10, 2006
Associated Press Reports: Ohio Recount Suit Dismissed
According to the Associated Press, the Ohio recount suit has been dismissed:
Judge Dismisses Penultimate Ohio Lawsuit
By JOHN McCARTHY, Associated Press Writer
Thu Feb 9, 10:42 PM ET
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit over Ohio's recount of the 2004 presidential election, leaving only one court challenge remaining from the state's role in the re-election of President Bush.
U.S. District Judge James Carr in Toledo threw out the suit filed by a voting rights group on behalf of the Green Party and Libertarian candidates. Tuesday's dismissal, barring an appeal, leaves active only a suit filed by the League of Women Voters of Ohio.
Link to article
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