your input requested on this one-page flyer

[garybeck]

hi folks, i've put together a one-page flyer, expanding on Angry Girl's 20 facts. This is intended for hard-copy printing, with no URLs other than a website where you can find the documentation.

Please take a look and let me know if I'm missing any important facts. Keep in mind I need to not add too much more because it needs to fit on one page.

here it is:

http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/articles/voting-facts.pdf

[Up2Late]

1. That about covers it n/t

:hippie:

[zapped 1]

2. great!...,.nm

[passy]

3. It seems fairly complete.

The point about exit polls could be expended to make it sound more serious.
Exit polls are actually the biggest evidence of vote tampering. But as the repugs will have it, they didn't work in 2000, 2002 and 2004 so who needs them.

[pk_du]

4. Looks great...if you had the room you could mention

the "lock-down/FBI" event in Ohio during counting...and the EX-Diebold employee allowed to access the computer software/Database a few days before the election in Ohio.

Cheers

[garybeck]

5. OK here's the text

Voting in the U.S.A.
facts you should know

•Eighty percent of all votes were counted on electronic voting machines made by one of two companies -
Diebold and ES&S. The president of Diebold and the vice president of ES&S are brothers.

•Both Diebold and ES&S are contributors to the Republican Party. Walden O'Dell, the owner of Diebold, said
in a 2003 fundraising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next
year." O'Dell has spent time on President Bush's ranch in Texas, and is a top level contributor to the Bush
campaign.

•Diebold and ES&S insisted on manufacturing computerized voting machines that produce no paper ballot
and can not be recounted. They claimed it was not technically possible to produce paper ballots, although Diebold
also makes bank ATM machines, which do produce paper receipts. The state of California outlawed Diebold
voting machines because of their lack of security and paper printout.

•Several programmers and managers at Diebold have previously been convicted of computer fraud.

•Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska used to be the presdient of ES&S, who manufactured the voting machines
that were used in his own election to his Senate seat. Hagel is known to be considering running for President in
2008.

•Thousands of complaints about electronic voting machines malfunctioning on election day have been logged.
Nearly every reported problem made a mistake that favored President Bush.

•A bill was introduced into Congress in 2002, to require a paper ballot printout on all voting machines.
Although there was bipartisan support for the bill, the leadership of the Republican Party prevented the bills from
coming to a vote. No explanation has been given for this.

•Exit polls are used internationally to identify problems with elections. On election day, the exit polls showed
Kerry winning both Ohio and Florida. In both of these states, Diebold and ES&S machines were used to count
the votes. Many statistical experts have published reports stating that the difference between our exit polls and the
official results is much larger than it should be.

•Systematic voter suppression has been documented, particularly in Ohio. More voting machines were placed
in Republican strongholds and less were placed in Democratic areas. Long voting lines, up to 10 hours, were only
seen in Democratic, minority, and low income areas, while Republican and higher-income areas had no lines. In
some areas, the voter registration list from 2000 was used, and anyone who had registered since then was forced to
use a provisional ballot. People were phoned and sent letters telling them their voting location had changed when it
had not. A lawsuit has been filed in regards to widespread voter suppression in Ohio.

•Ken Blackwell, the Secretary of State of Ohio, is both the overseer of elections and the head of the re-elect
Bush campaign in the same state. This is like allowing the coach of a team to be the referee in an important
game. Blackwell has been sent a letter signed by several Congressmen asking him specific questions about the
voter suppression and other things that went on in Ohio on election day, and he was asked to come to Washington
DC to testify about this information. Blackwell ignored the request to testify and has not answered a single
question asked in the letter.

•Congress is holding hearings on voting irregularities in Ohio. In the testimony there has been sworn
statements of witnesses who saw unauthorized manipulation of the voting machines. One witness has signed a
sworn affidavit stating that he was paid to write software code that would swing the election to the Republican
candidate.

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO VOTE AND HAVE IT COUNTED PROPERLY.
documentation and more information:
election.solarbus.org

[FogerRox]

25. Too all over the map for me--I'm looking for Handouts for the MSM

Protest in NYC.

Right now it seems to be about Ohio

[Carolab]

6. I'd like to see some mention of Triad

and its partisan connections as well as the fact that it is located right in Xenia with sister B.

[garybeck]

9. good idea. I updated it to include Triad in the 8th bullet

let me know if that was about what you were thinking.

i'm running out of room to add more text

[skids]

7. Reorder it.

Your strongest point at the top:

Congress is investigating...

[garybeck]

8. that's a tough one

it's hard to say, sometimes you want to save the best for last. you don't want to fizzle out into nothing. leave them with a big lasting impression.

more thoughts on this?

save the best for last or hit 'em hard at the beginning?

[Senator]

10. Yes, I'd suggest...

Combining the first 2 blurbs to strenghten your first impression:

Eighty percent of all votes were counted by contributors to the Republican Party

Additionally, I'd recommend a "sub slogan" under your "YOU HAVE A RIGHT.." line:

That Right Doesn't End on Election Day

--
www.thedeanpeople.org

[garybeck]

11. good one. I combined them (and two others)

if you want, you can refresh the link at the top of the thread to see the changes.

[Senator]

14. As it looks now...

... I'd consider using bold text on:

"contributors to the Republican Party"

"The state of California outlawed Diebold
voting machines"

and

"Congressmen asking him specific questions about the
voter suppression"

It helps give the longer ones a little "scan value."

Sad but true -- people really hate reading.

--

[skids]

16. I have to insist.

Congress should go at the top.

The ownership of ES&S and Dielbold only insinuates. It will only grab the attention of someone who doesn't have a healthy skeptical streak. And your first point *must* grab the reader, or they will not read on.

[Carolab]

12. One more thing?

You might mention Triad also "counted" Florida and invented the infamous "butterfly" ballot.

[garybeck]

13. maybe I should just include them in the top item

if we include Diebold, ESS, and Triad, do we get to boost the number over 80% of the total votes counted? Anyone know how much Triad would add?

[NJCher]

15. a headline that "grabs" the reader

First, thank you for doing this. I was going to do it and now I don't have to. Not only that, it looks like a great job of acquiring and writing the information. Very clear.

...save the best for last or hit 'em hard at the beginning?

Here's how information should be arranged: most important first, least important in the middle and second-most-important last. This comes to you from a former ad copywriter and (presently) a university writing teacher.

The headline needs some punch. It needs to "grab" the reader. I suggest the following in boldface italics:

Why is Congress and the GAO* Investigating the Election?

Because the Ohio Overseer of Elections and the Head of the Ohio Re-elect Bush Campaign are the Same?

I know many people are not aware of this and when they find out, they become outraged. It is a basic fact of this election that speaks to republican rigging.

Also, I would add "www" to your URL at the bottom. There are still a lot of people not all that familiar with the Web. The GAO should be explained at the bottom, too (*General Accounting Office). Let's not discount the fact that we have a very dumbed-down populace to go with our very dumbed-down president.

Again, thanks. Terrific job! I will really use this piece and so will my brother. He gets a newspaper every morning and will put copies inside all the other newspapers at the newstands. I love to carry things like this around--it's absolutely amazing the number of places you can find to put them.


Cher

[mulethree]

17. The first point

Turned me off, I have been following this stuff for years and I know that 80% of the votes aren't cast on electronic voting machines. I went to solarbus and found no documentation of this.

I suspect you are including optical scanners and punch-card scanners. And that could well be 80%.

I think you should clarify that even when you handle a optical-scan paper ballot or a punch card, that your vote is read and counted by these companies.

You don't want people to say 'bullshit' and throw it away after the first line, and you don't want people to say "Suckers! We're too smart for that, we use real paper for our ballots (optical scan)"

So I'd suggest something like
• Eighty percent of all votes were counted on electronic voting machines made by one of two companies -
Diebold and ES&S.
>> They make touch-screen/DRE voting machines; scanners for optical-scan and punch-card ballots; and software for counting, totalling and reporting votes. <<
The president of Diebold and the vice president of ES&S are brothers.


You should also spell out "Election Systems and Software (ES&S)" the first time you use it.

[tommcintyre]

18. Great Flyer! Let me know when its finished and I'll post it here:

http://www.independentmediasource.com/voteintegrity_tellothers.htm#Flyers:

[hootinholler]

19. Congress isn't investigating...

Several Democratic Congressman are. Congress isn't investigating because they can't get a Republican to join them to open a real Congressional investigation.

This is more damning IMHO. But to say Congress is investigating it sounds like it's covered, and it ain't.

-Hoot

[loupe-garou]

20. Excellent job......The one suggestion I would make would be to

expand by a line or two the estatement about the convicted felons at Diebold. I seem to recall a senior official with 23 convictions in the are of computer tampering!

[AllegroRondo]

23. and one who was convicted specifically of computer fraud

that involved writing a software program and leaving a 'back door' that he later exploited

[mulethree]

26. same guy , and they fired him

He worked for global election systems, who they bought to get into the elections business. They claim they fired him a few weeks after the purchase.

Still, they keep using his work. And 'fired' may mean he's now a consultant instead of an employee. Besides, he was so good at it that he got caught?!? I'd be more worried about guys good enough that they haven't been caught.

I don't know about the other felons referred to.

Point is, we need some background checks on the people who write the stuff and we need real oversight - preferably complete transparency.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

21. Excellent job-- suggestion, but take it or leave it..

garybeck, this is great work, and I'm wondering if some questions might help clarify the issues to the uninitiated, which would necessitate some reordering, a little supplemental data, etc. My suggested version is different, runs slightly longer (maybe too long for your purpose), but it uses your work with a couple of my adds. (I do think Hegel can be saved for another day to keep the focus on this election and this fraud.)

For what it's worth...


HOW NAIVE DO THEY THINK WE ARE?

WHY did exit polls match election results for races other than president? WHY have statisticians fixed the odds of the actual vote and exit polls being so different for president at 1 in 250 MILLION?

FACT:
Eighty percent of all votes were counted on electronic voting machines made by one of two companies: Diebold and ES&S. The president of Diebold and the vice president of ES&S are brothers. Both Diebold and ES&S are contributors to the Republican Party. Walden O'Dell, the owner of Diebold, said in a 2003 fund-raising letter that he is committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." O'Dell has vacationed on President Bush's ranch in Texas and is a top level contributor to the Bush campaign. Also, several programmers and managers at Diebold have previously been convicted of computer fraud.

FACT: Exit polls are highly reliable and are used internationally to identify problems with elections. On election day, contrary to official election results, exit polls showed Kerry winning both Ohio and Florida. Both of these states used Diebold and ES&S machines to count votes.

FACT: Many statistical experts have published reports stating that the difference between exit polls and the official results of this election is much larger than it actually could be. One analysis demonstrates that Kerry easily carried Ohio, whose 20 electors should overturn the presidential election.

FACT: Bush is credited with approximately 480,000 more votes in 2004 than in 2000 in Florida counties using electronic paperless voting machines. Berkeley statisticians have concluded Bush actually received at least 130,000-260,000 less votes in Florida than the official 2004 election results report.

FACT: A Congressional committee is holding hearings on voting irregularities in Ohio. Testimony has included a sworn statement from a witness who stated that he was paid by a Florida company to write software code that would create fraudulent election results. The witness stated he was acting on the request of a Republican congressman from Florida who had approached the company.


WHY are Ohio election workers swearing affidavits and reporting machine tampering by representatives from voting machine manufacturers after the election? WHY did one representative suggest to election officials in an Ohio county that they post a cheat sheet to ensure that recount totals matched the original totals? WHY would these voting machine manufacturers suggest this if there wasn’t something they were trying to hide?

FACT: Recount totals should match original totals exactly, without interference or tampering by the machine manufacturers, unless the machines are unreliable, inaccurate, and/or designed to defraud voters.

FACT: Thousands of complaints about electronic voting machines malfunctioning on election day have been logged. Nearly every reported problem made a mistake that favored President Bush.

FACT: Ken Blackwell, who is BOTH the Secretary of State of Ohio (its overseer of elections) AND the head of the Bush campaign in that state, directed a county to lock-down its recount from observers, an action constituting fraud under Ohio statutes.


WHY can't we easily rule out systematic election fraud? WHY can't you be sure your vote was counted accurately? WHY do Diebold and ES&S insist on manufacturing computerized voting machines that produce no paper ballot and can not be recounted? WHY do they claim it was not technically possible to produce paper ballots?

FACT: Diebold also makes bank ATM machines, which produce paper receipts. The state of California outlawed Diebold voting machines because of their lack of security and their lack of paper printout.

FACT: A bill was introduced into Congress in 2002 to require a paper ballot printout on all voting machines. Although there was bipartisan support for the bill, the leadership of the Republican Party prevented the bill from coming to a vote. No explanation has been given for this.


WHY was systematic voter suppression documented, especially in Ohio? WHY were more voting machines placed in Republican strongholds and less placed in Democratic areas? WHY were voting lines up to 10 hours only seen in Democratic, minority, and low income areas, while Republican and higher-income areas had few lines? WHY did some precincts use a voter registration list from 2000, forcing anyone who had registered since then to use a provisional ballot? WHY were people phoned and sent letters telling them their voting location had changed, when it had not?

FACT: Ken Blackwell has been sent a letter signed by several Congressmen asking him specific questions about voter suppression and other activities in Ohio on election day, and he was asked to come to Washington, DC, to testify about this information. Blackwell ignored the request to testify and has not answered a single question asked in the letter.

FACT: Lawyers acting solely on behalf of Ohio voters have filed a lawsuit regarding the widespread voter suppression in Ohio.

[smartvoter]

22. It's great. Needs one simple addition:

Recount efforts in Ohio are being systematically derailed while rules, and perhaps laws, are broken. Citizens across the country want to know: If nothing happened, then what are Blackwell and Ohio Republicans hiding?

Or similar language...

[FogerRox]

24. I'm working on a similar project

one page to be handed out during the MSM NYC protests.

I was thinking of using Kerrys letter, COnyers/GAO letters, Last mondays Conyers hears transcripts of hearings, Etc BUT using links/url

http://www.51capitalmarch.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=New_Jersey;action=display;num=1103044224

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[ClassWarrior]

27. It looks like an IRS form. Yuck!!

I'm sure the info within is solid, but it's too damn grey with text. You shouldn't be "expanding" AG's 20 facts - you should be capsulizing them for easy reading. You should have graphics and lots of white space. And yes, a snappy headline. And DEFINITELY that URL where people can find more info, once you've teased them into being interested.

NGU.

[PaulaGem]

28. My edit --

Have posted it to an HTML page, it makes it easier to reprint.

http://www.spiritsites.com/defend_democracy/FLYER.html

I combined some topics, eliminated the one about the senator to keep the focus on Ohio.

I added a sarcastic remark or two that may be gratuitous...

In edit - I looked up the link to see where you incorporated some of the later additions. I had an unexpected trip to the hospital yesterday and did not reference this before I made my changes.

Note that I also regrouped topics to create an information flow. If you like some of my wording (I am very good cutting and simplifying)
I will be happy to work on the new version.

Good luck.

[garybeck]

29. you could use a lesson in giving "positive feedback"

I could just say "why don't you go make your own flyer then?"

but we're supposed to be in this thing together, I think.

so

I'm not just expanding on AG's 20. Mine is different in many ways and it has a different purpose. Mine is for printing, hers is for web viewing. Hers focuses almost exclusively on Diebold and ESS, mine is updated with info on recounts, lawsuits, investigations, and suppression.

in regards to graphics and white space.

one goal is to be black and white so I can make 100 copies at kinkos for $7. If I try to introduce color, this ain't gonna work. black and white graphics usually suck but if you have any suggestions, please send them over.

I'd love to have more whitspace, but I'd have to either reduce the text size or cut out some text, which I've tried to do as much as possible already.

thanks for your input and support. Once it's 'finalized' i'll remind eveyone with a post and hopefully people will print a few copies and diperse them accordingly.

[BUSHOUT]

30. You get the "don't be so sensitive" award today.

:hi: