Inhibiting Election Fraud in 2006: Simple. Not easy. Very, very important.

[IndyOp]

I keep running into threads from people who want to know WHAT TO DO TO STOP THE THEFT OF THE 2006 elections!?!?!

Keep it simple: We want all eligible voters to vote, and for the votes to be cast and counted accurately. Stay 'on message' in everything you say and do.

It is not easy: There are many issues to think about and it can be hard knowing how to get started.

1. The simplest thing you can do: Donate to the excellent groups below!
   
   
2. To take further action, start here: Voter's Unite - Take Action!
   
   
3. Check for election justice groups in your state: Voter's Unite & VoteTrustUSA.org
   
   Search for the ACLU and People for the American Way and NAACP contacts in your state -- these groups are working to enfranchise all eligible voters. (links below)
   
   Search for the Common Cause and League of Women Voters' contacts in your state -- these groups are getting started working toward getting ballots cast and counted accurately. (links below)
   
   Contact your local Democratic Party to find out what they know and what they are doing. They may need educating or they may already be rolling...
   
   In my state (Indiana) ACLU and PFAW are not active in regards to elections. NAACP is working to protect voters in danger of being disenfranchised by Indiana's new Voter ID law. Common Cause-Indiana is just starting to get active. My local League of Women Voters is also just starting to learn and take action, too. I am working to get my local Democracy for America group and Democratic Party informed. They are already experts in voter registration and training people to participate as pollworkers or pollmonitors, so I am learning from them as I educate them about election fraud and voter disenfranchisement.

What if there aren't any groups in your state already working on election justice issues?

You have to jump in and start taking action without knowing everything about the subect.

• Read the material on the excellent websites below.
  
• Print out the best material and take it to your local Democratic Party, to Democratic candidates, to local progressive groups and educate them!
  
• Contact election officials in your county or state by email, phone, private letter or LTTE to tell them your concerns, to tell them what you want.
  
• Work with others to register eligible citizens to vote and educate them about their rights & responsibilities.
  
• Work with others to learn about election laws & policies in your county & state.
  
• Work with others to collaborate with/challenge election administrators in your county/state to ensure that voters are not disenfranchised, and to ensure that votes are cast and counted accurately.
  
• Participate in elections as a pollworker or pollwatcher.
  
• Conduct exit polls or parallel elections.
  
• VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! GET EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO VOTE! We are most likely to catch cheating if there is massive, massive turnout.

Keep in mind: You cannot read everything before you begin taking action - the literature is voluminous. Also, the literature is 'general' -- you read about problems that have occurred across the nation and you read general recommendations. Then you have to educate yourself about your county/state -- and try to apply the general knowledge to your local situation. VotersUnite and VoteTrustUSA try to answer questions from people across the nation who want to be active in election justice. (If you will visit the DU Election Reform forum we will try to answer your questions, too!)

:redbox: VotersUnite.org http://www.votersunite.org/
E-VOTING 2006: The Approaching Train Wreck * Mythbreakers: Facts About Electronic Elections * Voting system failures by vendor * Vote-Switching and Ballot Definition Problems * Handouts!

:redbox: VoteTrustUSA.org http://www.votetrustusa.org/
Daily News * States: Indiana * Subscribe to the Election Integrity Weekly Newsletter * Poll Monitors and Poll Workers Guide to Electronic Voting

:redbox: VerifiedVoting.org http://www.verifiedvoting.org/
Resolution on Electronic Voting * Election Administration Project: Best Practices for Reliable Election Systems. * Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS) * Election Protection Questionnaires: Local & State Election Officials, Pre-Election Testing

:redbox: National Election Data Archive http://electionarchive.org
Democracy Will Survive If Candidates, Political Parties, and Voters Act. * For Candidates: Assure that Votes in Your Race Are Counted Accurately * For Political Parties: Synopsis: Assure Accurate Vote Counts * For Political Parties: Long: Help Ensure Vote Count Integrity * For Voters: What Voters Can Look For & Report On

:redbox: ACLU: Voting Rights http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/
Working to make registration accessible and to protect minority voting rights. Tremendous legislative work on behalf of citizens impacted by gerrymandering.

:redbox: NAACP: Project Vote http://projectvote.org/home.html
Check out the Election Administration Program and resources for Resources for Election Officals, Policy Makers, and Civic Participation Organizations

:redbox: Voter Action http://www.voteraction.org/
Provides strategic and legal support to ensure verifiable, accurate and transparent voting systems. Has supported lawsuits in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania.

:redbox: Common Cause http://www.commoncause.org/
Sponsors Vote for America, a non-partisan voter education and mobilization program. Go to the Common Cause site, locate the organizers for your state and contact them!

:redbox: People for the American Way: Civic Participation http://www.pfaw.org/
Election Protection Program offers: volunteer poll monitors; civil rights lawyers and advocates who preserve access to the polls, expose and prevent voter intimidation; help working with election officials to identify and solve problems with new voting machines, technology and ballot forms.

:redbox: League of Women Voters: Election Reform http://www.lwv.org/
American Democracy at Risk: Agenda for Renewal and Repair includes recommendations for election reform and advocates nonpartisan redistricting, safeguarding civil liberties; campaign finance reform.

:redbox: Brennan Center for Justice http://www.brennancenter.org/
The Brennan Center report finds improper implementation of new voter registration databases could prevent millions from voting.

GET ACTIVE! You CAN make a difference! :applause:

Or - to borrow one of the credits at the end of "An Inconvenient Truth" - if you pray, keep in mind the African Proverb that says, "When you pray, move your feet!"

Edits: Grammar, spelling, bullet points!

[bleever]

1. Seven nominations before the first response means

WOW! Great resource!

:yourock:

[IndyOp]

3. Thank you! I am trying to prep for my local meetings and

writing for DU helps me organize my thoughts! :D

[FrenchieCat]

2. Thanks.....

I do pray and move my feet! :patriot:

[bleever]

4. How can this get wider distribution?

It's fantastic.

[bonito]

5. Kick n/t

[bettyellen]

6. k+r

[rucky]

7. Thanks, Indy!

You always come through.

:yourock:

[senseandsensibility]

8. k and r

Keep hope alive!

[Wilms]

9. K&R

:thumbsup: X2

[kansasblue]

10. Don't forget WWW.BRADBLOG.com

great resource

[IndyOp]

14. BradBlog *is* incredible - I am so impressed that he is

sticking with Busby/Bilbray and is chatting with the right-wing radio (Hedgecock). Brad is just incredibly knowledgeable and active and I like him so much I donate!

[JimDandy]

11. A BIG , ACTIVE K & R... n/t

[Kurovski]

12. Kick(nt)

[marions ghost]

13. excellent excellent post

:kick:

Voting integrity--#1 priority

[JudyM]

15. Terrific post. There should be a spot on DU where this can stay alive.

Provides good traction for anyone to get involved at any level, which is what we need.

[rucky]

16. ACORN is also having a big voter drive:

www.acorn.org

I just signed up with my local chapter.

:)

[IndyOp]

17. ACORN Rocks!

I admire them tremendously. :applause:

Yeah Rucky! :yourock:

[In Truth We Trust]

22. I did too. Acorn is holding nat'l conv. in ohio in july. Hand counts NOW!!

[Theres-a]

18. kick

[Virginian]

19. Become a part of the system to keep it honest.

While many are working toward a paper trail for the vaporware, some of us are involved in the process.

If you are not employed by any candidate or party, check with your local electoral board to see if you can become part of their staff on election day. Our county always needs more people to be poll workers on election day. The pay isn't much and it is a long day, but I feel that I KNOW the process in my precinct is honest.

You will probably have to take a vacation day to work. I was working for a non-profit organization that depends on volunteers to meet it's goals when I signed up for my first election. Even with that company, I could not get the day off as administrative leave, (My argument was that it is a Civic Responsibility, like jury duty,) I still had to burn a vacation day.

Once you have been a poll worker, you know the rules and you can be a better poll watcher. Our county allows one watcher from each party to sit behind each split of the pollbooks.

In our state, we do not register to vote under any party and we are not restricted to voting in specific primaries, but if two primaries are held on the same day, we have to choose only one primary that day. The one we choose is a matter of public record.

From what I have heard, other areas do this differently, but in our county, potential pollworkers have to declare the party they favor. This declaration gets them a "D", "R" or "I" after their name. At each precinct there must be both "D" people and "R" people. The Chief is usually the same party as the Governor and the Assistant Chief is the other major party. If we ever have an Independent as Governor, they will have to come up with a new system.

The Chief and Assistant Chief have to go to training sessions for every election to learn what is new and more details on how to handle special situations and a refresher on machines and procedures. The other officers go once, to learn how to operate the machines and to learn the system the county uses for marking the pollbooks and keeping a count of voters.

On election day, All workers show up at 5:00 am. Everyone is involved with setting up and turning on the voting machines. Throughout the day we try to rotate jobs between the books and the machines. If a problem comes up with a machine, we like to have two people reboot it, one rebooting and one as a witness. At the end of the day, we get the results from each machine and a tally of all machines on a master machine. There are usually two at the master machine, one reading the procedures from the book and the other performing the procedures. The results are printed on paper and copied onto a paper form. A worker calls another person at the Electoral Board to verbally give the precinct results. No observers can leave the room until after this is done. The handwritten results are posted on the door to the precinct. Two people escort the master machine if it needs to go into another room for a modem phone line to the electoral board computer. The paperwork has to be completed, signed and sealed. The machines are locked and sealed. The room is left as we found it. Then the workers are done for the day and the Chief escorts the sealed paperwork to the Electoral Board. The chief is usually home by 10:30 pm if there have been no problems.

The officers have seen no news during the day we don't have any idea how the exit polls are going. We are the first to know the results of our precinct and sometimes the last to know the results of the election.

I think the county has come up with a pretty good process. Everything I do on election day is open to both parties for observation.

It is my understanding that the Electoral Board comes up with the ballots for each election and loads them into the machines. The machine vendor does not touch the process.

[Amonester]

20. This is very important. Very important. K & R (& Thank you!)

Act & Keep it kicked up.

:kick:

[klook]

21. #1 Issue facing us today

Thanks very much. This is on my mind all the time. We all need to look ourselves in the mirror and ask what we're doing and what we could be doing to prevent vote fraud this November.

For anyone who needs motivation, take a look at American Blackout.

[Wilms]

23. .