Work The Vote L.A. is having a fundraiser -- help secure this crucial CA county's elections.

[EFerrari]

Reposted from our ER forum:

Congrats to Robinlynne & Sheri Myers! This is their announcement:

Why should you bother to support our Craft Sale (Fundraiser) on 11/07? Because our democracy in LA County is at stake.

Please take just five minutes to read:

As you may know, Work the Vote monitored the L.A. County polls during the 2008 General Election. The reports from the voters and poll monitors showed many problems, unmentioned in the media. The most glaring problem was the huge number of voters who were not listed on the roster, or listed with the wrong status. They had to vote a provisional ballot.

Here is what we are finding, and investigating:

Our Registrar Dean Logan said the high number of voters left off the rosters was due to unprecedented new voter registration that our County just couldn’t handle. And yet, our research shows that almost half of those removed from the rosters, interviewed by our monitors, were long time voters. How did that happen?

Many voters were given sample ballots directing them to precincts, only to find their names not on the roster. How is that possible?

Why are 95% of the the high-provisional precincts located in high democratic precincts?

And we are finding voters who are listed as VBM (vote by mail,) who never requested and never received VBM ballots. Who listed them as VBM, and why?

FYI: Our vote-by-mail system, and voter registration are outsourced to Diebold/Premier, now owned by ES&S.

Work the Vote is investigating other problems too:

A group of volunteers read all of the largest election contracts in our County. They discovered outsourcing our elections to Diebold, ES&S, etc. does not guarantee accuracy in our elections, and is costing us millions of dollars. (Tidbit: Did you know that one of our most important contracts named a convicted felon as the vendor’s officer of oversight?)

We are currently requesting documents and looking into the bidding process itself. We are looking into details to see if the law is in fact, being followed.

Why we MUST fundraise:

We just don’t have the resources without your help. All of our work is volunteer. However, we must spend hundreds of dollars to do document requests, make Xeroxes, and rent spaces for larger meetings when necessary. So far it has been Sheri and Robin’s personal financing, with a few donations.

We hope to provide a large public forum where we can present the results of this research to the public and to lawmakers, to learn about what is happening right here in our own County, and to change it! That will cost at least 1500.00.

It's worth it, isn’t it? Don’t we need to know that our votes are counted as cast? Two controversial Propositions, 8 & 11, were passed in 2008. 2010 will feature some key races – Governor, Attorney General, CA Senate, Harman vs. Winograd…

Please give what you can - cookies, brownies, items to sell, your time. Volunteer. Or come to shop! Buy some lovely, low-priced gifts.

YOUR DEMOCRACY THANKS YOU!! FORWARD THIS EMAIL

SEEKING DONATIONS & HELP CALL [phone]

Saturday, Nov. 7th 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. 11411 Charnock Rd. LA 90066

Crafts, baked goods, new or nearly new items that would make nice gifts... Gift certificates for your services...

VOLUNTEER...Lend a hand pricing, or putting up posters on Friday 11/06 or Help manage the tables on Saturday

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TIA