[Davis Democrats] FW: Immediate action needed for Open Voting

Tue Oct 4 15:55:54 PDT 2005

1.  Call the gov at 916-445-2841 and express support of S.B. 370, which it
looks like he may be pocket-vetoing.  SB 370 makes the voter verified paper
trail the official record in case of recount or audit.  You can't have
democracy so long as the black box tabulators officially determine the
outcome.  S.B. 370 was written by Senator Debra Bowen, candidate for Sec. of
State.

Sadly, Republican Sec of State McPherson has urged Schwarzeneggar to veto
this bill.  I honestly can't think of a valid reason and can only note that
Diebold and its ilk are Republican contributors, and at the least want
payback and at the most want to help steal elections.  One friend's analysis
shows the recall (of Davis) effort succeeded only in each county with votes
counted by machines, so it's possible the gov and friends have stooped so
low as to choose what gives them wins over what gives us democracy.

2.  Act on the Open Voting announcement below.  This time talk to your state
senator, assemblyman, and Mr. McPherson to get open code voting software
implemented.  It looked like it was going to happen, and now it looks like
McPherson is backing out, perhaps under voting industry pressure.  I don't
know how honest his intentions were when he became Sec. of State, but he has
become a man who will urge a veto of paper record recounts.  Perhaps he
hasn't forgot that right after his predecessor Kevin Shelley decertified
some Diebold machines, the media received enough dirt on Shelley to drive
him out of office.

If you need any convincing that our democracy is over if we cannot openly
count our votes, go to blackboxvoting.org (Bev Harris's site) or
blackboxvoting.com (David Allen's site) and see whatever is their latest in
shocking findings.  

Thanks.
Adrienne Kandel

-----Original Message-----
From: Open Voting Announcements [mailto:alan at openvotingconsortium.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 8:02 AM
To: adrienne at dcn.org
Subject: Immediate action for Open Voting

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

I need your help right away.  Two things: Please speak up for Open Voting!
Letters, emails, faxes, phones calls.  The situation is described below.
The California Secretary of State could use some encouragement to get going
on the report on open source software for elections.  We need letters to CA
legislators as well as the Secretary of State.  

I also need money!  We still have matching funds available.  With two days
left in our pledge drive, we're far behind our goal.  Please contribute now.
See your contribution doubled immediately!!

If you are a California resident, please write to your Senator,
Assemblyperson, as well as Secretary of State Bruce McPherson.

If you are outside of California, I think you can still write effectively.
Afterall, Microsoft of Washington state, lobbies in all the states
regardless.  

The other 4 letters complete the story.

1) SEP 8 letter from Assemblywoman Goldberg to Secretary McPherson urging
public hearings.
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/goldberg98.pdf

2) SEP 21 letter from McPherson to Charlene Woodcock says he "will be
appointing a task force consisting of experts such as Mr. Dechert to conduct
a study of Open Source Code and provide it to the Legislature."
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/sos-letter-921.pdf

3) SEP 28 letter from Chief of Elections Caren Daniels-Meade to Alan Dechert
indicating they have made no decisions on what they will do.
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/cdm928.pdf

4) OCT 3 letter from me to Secretary McPherson -- he may be facing pressure
from industry to sandbag the report.
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/sos-letter-oct3.pdf

So, if writing to your senator/assemblymember, a template might look like
this

*********
Hon. So-and-So
Member of the Assembly/Senate
Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Assemblymember/Senator So-and-So:

Last year, the California State Legislature passed Assembly 
Concurrent Resolution 242, which calls on the Secretary of 
State to investigate using open source software for elections 
and issue a report on that by the end of this year.

We agree with Assemblywoman Goldberg's prescription: 
"meetings in public and treat them like a legislative hearing."

Please let Secretary McPherson know that the report he 
issues to the Legislature will be much more believable if the 
information gathered for it is done thoroughly and publicly.

Signed, constituent of So-and-So
********
If to McPherson:

***********
Hon. Bruce McPherson
Secretary of State
1500 11th Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: ACR 242

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I agree with Assemblywoman Goldberg's prescription: 
"meetings in public and treat them like a legislative hearing."

I am looking forward to attending PUBLIC HEARINGS regarding the 
feasibility of using OPEN SOURCE software for election systems.

Please post a schedule as soon as possible.

Signed, constituent

**************

If you are a Californian, please write to all three: your Assemblymember,
your Senator, and your Secretary of State.

In passing along this message, please include the attachments so people will
know the background.

DONATE NOW !

Click http://openvoting.org and look for the Support OVC! section on the
right screen then scroll down to provide a one-time donation or to join as a
sustaining member.  You can use the PayPal button there 
(This is the address for PayPal: donation at openvotingconsortium.org )

PayPal is the preferred method. PayPal now allows contributions to be made
with a credit card even if you don't have a PayPal account.

You may also use our Amazon account to contribute.
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T43MQSRHDPEDQ/102-0964310-0180917

If by check, please send to:
Open Voting Consortium
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746

Alan Dechert
President, Open Voting Consortium
http://openvoting.org
alan at openvoting.org
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746
916-791-0456

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