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Fight over E-voting riles League of Women Voters

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librechik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 04:54 PM
Original message
Fight over E-voting riles League of Women Voters
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/8891331.htm?1c

snip


"A battle over electronic voting is threatening the cohesion of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, whose national leadership is refusing to endorse demands by hundreds of members for a paper trail to guard against fraud, hackers and malfunctions.

Some local chapters are so angry that they are flouting regulations and planning to speak against the national stance Friday and Saturday at the league's biennial convention in Washington. They're threatening to nominate new board members and a new candidate for president who would rescind the league's support for paperless voting systems.

"We think the league has in some way failed us," said Genevieve Katz, 74, a member of the Oakland, Calif., chapter who has collected more than 700 signatures from members upset with the league's national stance on paperless terminals. "I can't remember an issue that has gotten members so upset."

The 130,000-member nonpartisan organization, a champion of social reforms and voting rights since 1920, weighed in on the e-voting controversy last year. Leaders said paperless terminals, which about 30 percent of the electorate will use in the November election, were reliable."


(more)


Join up, Ladies--Make a difference in your town!
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Eloriel Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 05:01 PM
Response to Original message
1. WooHoo -- GREAT news!
Go get 'em, ladies!
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struggle4progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 05:06 PM
Response to Original message
2. This ain't that hard to understand! Ditch the flunkies!
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Fitzovich Donating Member (179 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 05:06 PM
Response to Original message
3. You Go Girls!
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TahitiNut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 05:10 PM
Response to Original message
4. Sounds like the "leadership" is on the take.
Reichbots infest these positions like cockroaches infest restaurants and grocery stores.
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Joanne98 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 05:12 PM
Response to Original message
5. Good. Throw the bums out.
The leadership is either stupid or corrupt. Either way the organization will not be healthy until they're gone.
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struggle4progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-11-04 01:46 AM
Response to Reply #5
19. I don't think LVW leaders are corrupt but many seem uniformed ...

about this issue.
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Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 05:15 PM
Response to Original message
6. You go girls! (Boys too)
Edited on Thu Jun-10-04 05:49 PM by DanSpillane
People have reason to be angry!!! Get out the SLEDGE HAMMERS! Practice on old televisions!

Did you know they recently had a congressional hearing and their were NO employees of the voting machine companies, other than high-level executives involved!?!?

I am also starting a campaign to call in foreign assistance from the UN and France, to investigate what is going on in so-called "democratic" US elections...

*** Letter to French embassy follows ***

Daniel Spillane
410 E Denny Way #229
Seattle, WA  USA
(206) 860-2858    citizen@libertywhistle.us

Chancery
US Embassy, The Nation of France
101 Reservoir Road, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20007

June 3, 2004

Chers Messieurs et Madames :

My name is Daniel Spillane, and I am a citizen living in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. I am writing to you because I am very concerned that democracy has all but disappeared in my country, and France represents a wise, honorable and old friend of the US. As you know, long ago, the nation of France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States in recognition of the strength of US liberty and democracy—the statue stood here proudly as a symbol of unity between “sisters.” But now, I fear, the statue stands not in pride, but in shame--on a foundation that is less of a democracy every day. You see, few things are closer to the foundation of democracy than free and fair elections, conducted under the rule of law. And it is in US elections where, unfortunately, the very foundation of US democracy has fallen into decay.

I am an expert on computer systems, and have applied my experience of over 20 years towards analyzing US voting equipment. Recently, I have had the opportunity to analyze information related to several US voting machine makers, and the legal system involved in conducting US elections. These US elections are claimed to be democratic, and appear to be so—at least on the surface.  But below the surface, the laws and regulations that are supposed to ensure free and fair democratic elections are not being observed. In short, the US can no longer claim it is a democracy, given that many recent elections have been conducted without the rule of law.

Unfortunately, I and other citizens--including esteemed experts from US universities such as Stanford--have discovered that in a number of US states, supposedly democratic elections have been conducted without the rule of law. A prime example of an election carried out this way is the US presidential election of 2000. While stories of punch-card voting equipment involving “hanging chads” dominated the US media, few details were offered to the American public. Recently, upon re-addressing the Bush vs. Gore case along with technical details, I determined that election law couldn’t possibly have been met, based on the circumstances and law back then. This is an awful truth to discover, and one that has not been told to US citizens, nor to the rest of the world.

Specifically, a 1989 Florida law clearly states that after 1993, all Florida voting systems used in elections had to meet standards. As it turns out, those standards clearly state voting punch-card machines used after 1993 required “features to ensure that chad is completely removed.” However, the widespread existence of hanging chads, as publicized world-wide, clearly shows that the Florida election did not meet that law--and proves the 2000 election was conducted in contempt of the law. Remarkably, in the Bush vs. Gore US Supreme Court decision, no mention is made of the applicable “chad removed” standard, nor that the law was ignored. Furthermore, the responsible election official, Katherine Harris, was never held accountable--but was instead “rewarded” with a promotion into the US House of Representatives. And the American public was blindsided on the true nature of the law—consequently, the problem of Florida 2000 was never fixed. Indeed it was never even properly identified.

But US problems with democracy aren’t limited to just one election. It has since been discovered that a number of US States have since been conducting elections outside the rule of law—just like in Florida 2000--including the State of California, and my own State of Washington. And the problem isn’t one of punch cards, but of many US election systems, including the new electronic ones. In recent cases, mysterious changes to election results remain unexplained, including those in the states of Georgia and Alabama—yet these, like 2000, appear to be the result of lawless, non-democratic circumstances. Clearly in these cases, nothing had been done to fix the problems, which led to Florida 2000 and still persist.  In fact, since 2000, a US Federal Committee was appointed to fix US voting, but was delayed by President Bush--and then funding was cut.

Yet, more recently, problems with democracy in the US seem to have spread well beyond just elections. Recently, the US invaded Iraq based on contrived evidence; several members under the Bush administration have resigned. And now, the US President is part of a criminal investigation, involving retaliation against his own government agents. So I am even more worried: lawless elections, lawless wars, and lawless presidencies are signs of tyrannical regimes--not of democracies. Even the US Supreme Court and Congress have failed to protect the American people from falsehood and treachery.

With all these things happening, I am hoping the nation of France can remember why it gave the Statue of Liberty to the US; and I am hoping France can see how the statue stands here in shame. I urge France to send representatives and observers to see evidence of problems in US elections and democracy; also, I urge France to raise the problems concerning US elections and un-democratic behavior to the United Nations.

I sincerely hope that France may aid America in the return to democracy. And for my part, I can no longer accept the gift of the Statue of Liberty--I urge you to consider the return of it. The statue rightly belongs in the hands of those who provide an example of democracy for the world to see. Once again, thank you for the statue, but it is now time to call on Old Europe to help bring honor back to where the statue stands. As an American citizen whose family fought in World War I and II, I beg France, and the rest of Europe for help--please help bring democracy back to the US.

I beg you to send help.


Sincerely,



Daniel Spillane
Seattle, WA  USA
June 03, 2004

www.libertywhistle.us
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NMDemDist2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 06:44 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. wow Dan, quite a letter there
don't know how France can help us. We have to help ourselves here.

But the info was great, thanks for posting it.
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 06:06 PM
Response to Original message
7. They "used to be" non partisan,
but they have been "infiltrated"...just as has the Sierra Club, and the AARP,the ACL,PBS,and even the NAACP..

This is a very studied and successful technique of the right wingers..They target groups who tend to disagree with their philosophy, and over time (they are a patient bunch), they infect those organizations with "seemingly moderate" parasites.. Once there are a number there, they "release their toxic spores" and set about destroying their unsuspecting "host"..
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mom cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. Wasn't the League in league with the repugnants in Fla in 2000?
I seem to remember some shady connection. Can anyone refresh my memory?
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Gin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. reminds me of termites........
g
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xxqqqzme Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-11-04 12:03 AM
Response to Reply #7
18. oh, so that's what happened
2 the democratic party!
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Trajan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-12-04 11:38 PM
Response to Reply #7
21. From a related thread ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1780491

League of Women Voters & disability groups bought off, lobby for Diebold


"The NY Times has a great editorial today calling out the League of Women Voters for their counter-productive lobbying against verified voting. The article states that Diebold voting systems has given lots of dough to these opposition groups." There's an AP story about the issue as well.

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/06/11/171209.shtml?tid=103&tid=126&tid= ...
--


Apparently the leadership people of groups like LWV and disability rights groups are being bought off by Diebold monetary gifts and are lobbying in support of Diebold. From the text of the NYT article:

Last year, the American Association of People With Disabilities gave its Justice for All award to Senator Christopher Dodd, an author of the Help America Vote Act, a post-2000 election reform law. Mr. Dodd, who has actively opposed paper trails, then appointed Jim Dickson, an association official, to the Board of Advisors of the Election Assistance Commission, where he will be in a good position to oppose paper trails at the federal level. In California, a group of disabled voters recently sued to undo the secretary of state's order decertifying the electronic voting machines that his office had found to be unreliable.

Some supporters of voter-verifiable paper trails question whether disability-rights groups have gotten too close to voting machine manufacturers. Besides the donation by Diebold to the National Federation of the Blind, there have been other gifts. According to Mr. Dickson, the American Association of People with Disabilities has received $26,000 from voting machine companies this year.

-snip-
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dusty64 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 06:49 PM
Response to Original message
11. They ought to be riled, I
have always considered this group respectable and that respect is seriously on the line. Whats with the rightwing infiltration of once populist groups like this one and aarp?
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dusty64 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 09:46 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. Kick!
:kick:
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Merlin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 08:29 PM
Response to Original message
12. Here's our LWV flyer. Let's hope our side wins at the convention!
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jdj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 08:45 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. That's AWESOME!! n/t
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steely Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 08:53 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. I love the URL....
/ComputerAteMyVote

Ha Ha Ha
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stickdog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 11:37 PM
Response to Original message
16. The LWV leadership is either inept or corrupt.
Either way, they need the big heave-ho.
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GregD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-10-04 11:59 PM
Response to Original message
17. Dr. Barbara Simons running for LWV President
Edited on Fri Jun-11-04 12:39 AM by GregD
I spoke with Barbara last week and she is running for Kay Maxwell's LWV President seat.

Everyone cross your fingers, say a prayer, or whatever works for ya - but hope she wins, or at least makes a difference in her efforts!

GregD


On edit - for those that don't know Simons, she has been fighting the LWV position for over a year from within. She also was one of the computer scientists who released the www.ServeSecurityReport.org and tanked internet voting.
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struggle4progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-12-04 10:02 PM
Response to Original message
20. League of Women Voters debates electronic ballots
<snip>
While the League's official stance on the system is in support of the act, many members believe the electronic system, which produces no physical record of the person's vote, will jeopardize the vote-counting process.

One such person is Marie Ashby, a former president of the Montgomery County chapter of the League. She says that while she cannot officially comment on behalf of the League, she personally favors implementing electronic voting systems in the future but thinks the development of the system is not where it needs to be.

"I favor paper trails," she said. "I've heard enough from the experts to know that we're not far enough along yet."
<snip>

The League is holding a convention in Washington, D.C., this week to determine whether to change its position on the electronic voting system.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1569&dept_id=180944&newsid=11937589&PAG=461&rfi=9
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