About the recent GAO report
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2289992http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x177412And, regarding a petition to Calif Sec of State against Diebold in Calif--prepared by State Senator Debra Bowen (who is running for Sec of State--GO DEBRA!). Sign the petition!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5513129&mesg_id=5513129---------------------
Strategy for '06 and '08:
1. Strong pressure on the Dem Party to commit resources to INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS, "parallel elections," and other verification tools--to be able to challenge suspicious election results and gather evidence for the election reform movement. Do this on our own if necessary. See: www.UScountvotes.org, for a project for statistical monitoring in '06 and '08.
(INDEPENDENT EXIT POLLS are necessary because the corporate news monopolies are tweaking their exit polls to fit the results of non-transparent, Bushite-controlled electronic voting systems. They did this on 11/2/04! --gave us false numbers, to hide strong evidence of a Kerry win.)
2. Widespread education of the public--by word of mouth and any means possible--to, a) alert them to EXPECT losses to the Republican-controlled voting machines, and not to be discouraged; 2) to inform them that we need MASSIVE turnouts to overcome the fraud.
(A disheartened, disempowered, demoralized population, which doesn't know WHY they are not represented in Wash DC, is not desirable. That's what we have now. What we want is an alive, empowered, energetic, purposeful population who knows exactly where things stand, and determines to do something about it. Our message should be: Never give up your right to vote! NEVER! Fight back! OUTVOTE THE MACHINES! The machines can't manufacture an election--they can only tweak it here and there--and they WILL BE CAUGHT with a massive voter turnout.)
3. All-out grass roots effort for max voter turnout, and strong support of good candidates. Don't back off now, when max voter turnout is so essential, and good candidates are risking everything to run (based on their principles--such as an antiwar stance--and also on the bad numbers for the Bushites). NOW IS THE TIME for grass roots groups to DO IT--go all out--now that we KNOW what's going on! We can't let anyone sit on their hands. MOBILIZE YOUR GET-OUT-THE-VOTE GROUP! Or form a new one! We must overwhelm the fraud!
4. Strong pressure on state/local election officials, to demand TRANSPARENCY, and to let them know that we are aware of the corruption in the electronic voting scene--the lavish lobbying, the "revolving door" employment, the arrogance and fiefdomism--and the reformers are coming to get them--we are out to clean house, so they had better steer clear of any taint! Other points:
--electronic voting was not ready for prime time (to say the least); distribute "MythBreakers" (www.votersunite.org), an easy to read pamphlet on the perils of electronic voting which, among other things, points out that HAVA (Congress) did NOT mandate electronic voting (it just created a $4 billion boondoggle for the Bushite-controlled electronic voting companies, and corruptible election officials); PAPER BALLOTS are still an option, and should be a first line of attack demand.
--electronic voting is VERY expensive as well as insecure and hackable; it involves long term servicing and upgrades, and private company personnel access to voting data; it was a mistake; it should be abandoned, not "patched up," until these systems have rock solid security; take this strong position--PAPER BALLOTS NOW--to get them busy on increased transparency and security (as much as we can get). (They'll be motivated to do it to save their corrupt little asses.)
5. Pressure on legislators, and legal and public pressure to get "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code banned in as many elections as possible, prior to the elections. Shout it far and wide! Don't be afraid!
6. And somebody for godssakes get this matter to Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. That's where young people get their news these days (and some oldsters, too)! A comic piece on election fraud and the need for MASSIVE TURNOUT (the people need to win by at least a 10% margin in order to...win) will do wonders.
In Ohio, Diebold just flipped the vote on four ELECTION REFORM initiatives, which were winning by 60/40 in pre-election polls, but "somehow" LOST by 60/40 (!) on election day--the most audacious machine flipover we've seen yet. THERE'S A GOOD COMIC SKIT IN THERE SOMEWHERE. The MACHINES (and their masters) refusing to let us reform our election system and its MACHINES!
See Bob Koehler's column on the Ohio initiatives:
http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?custid=67&catid=1824