[Davis Democrats] FW: Reclaim our Democracy this 4th of July

Tue Jul 4 22:59:52 PDT 2006

------ Forwarded Message
From: PDA Board <info at pdamerica.org>
Date: 4 Jul 2006 21:05:27 -0000
To: <jac07 at dcn.org>
Subject: Reclaim our Democracy this 4th of July

Dear Progressive Democrats of America activists,

As we celebrate our freedoms and our Democracy today, we must continue to
remember that the core of our Democracy is under attack. Our voting system
must be reformed and protected to enfranchise voters, have all votes
counted, and counted as cast. We at PDA make a guarantee that this fight
will continue to be our fight. Today is a day to reclaim our democracy. With
our current system when a Registrar violates election law, officials look
the other way. 

Few grasp the technical issues. Most sympathize with their registrars'
claims that they lack money and staff to follow new security procedures to
protect vulnerable e-voting machines. Counties are cash-strapped to protect
democracy because we¹re fighting a trillion-dollar war.

PDA goes into action.

Because election fraud brought us that war. Florida 2000 insured it and Ohio
2004 <http://pdamerica.org/articles/events/rally-2005-01-03-columbus.php>
perpetuated it. PDA has always made that connection.

We talk to our neighbors. We're organized nationwide
<http://pdamerica.org/articles/events/atlanta-vra.php> . We know that change
is here, across the political spectrum. But it won¹t show up until the
ballot box is unrigged and voters have equal access to honest voting.

PDA will stand up and fight
<http://pdamerica.org/articles/events/atlanta-vra.php>   loudly and clearly
 for legitimate elections
<http://pdamerica.org/policy/vote_count_challenge.php> . Period.

PDA issued a ŒNo Confidence
<http://pdamerica.org/articles/campaigns/busby-handcount.php> ¹ statement in
the Busby-Bilbray machine tally, because the machine count can¹t guarantee a
show of voter intent when machines were sent home with pollworkers in
violation of state and federal security provisions. Secure chain-of-custody,
of the machines and their memory cards, was breached by the Registrar¹s
disregard of new state and federal regulations.

It had been common practice, in jurisdictions across the nation, to send
voting machines home with volunteer pollworkers. Before computer voting, the
risk was low to the final result. Now, with trade-secret software, as the
Brennan Institute reported, and the Washington Post headlined, "One Person
Can Swing An Election."

In December, 2005, computer programmer Harri Hursti hacked into a Diebold
opti-scanner and reversed the vote tally, changing the electronic results
and the election outcome without a trace. Only the paper ballots told the
truth. He later discovered even more startling vulnerabilities in the
Diebold touch-screen DRE system. His ³hack² involved memory cards that can
program and insert information as well as extract  and change -- the vote
tally. Both types of Diebold machine were used in the San Diego election.
Both types can be hacked in just two minutes of unsupervised time  no
password necessary. Both types were sent home with volunteer pollworkers
days and weeks before election day.

On March 22, 2006, Sandra J. Steinbach, Chair of the National Association of
State Elections Directors (NASED) issued new regulations developed to cover
the alarming Diebold security hole. The first new regulation was this:
> Throughout the life of the voting system, the election official shall maintain
> control of all memory cards and keep a perpetual chain of custody record for
> all of the memory cards used with the system. Programmed memory cards shall be
> stored securely at all times with logged accesses and transfers.
Fraud does not have to be charged or proven in San Diego to prove the
election was run on illegal voting machines. NASED's letter is clear:
> Failure to comply with this addendum negates the voting system's status as a
> NASED-qualified voting system.
State certification depends on federal qualification. It is illegal to hold
an election on uncertified machinery in California. The Registrar says car
and garage storage is secure. The CA Secretary of State is silent. CA¹s
Attorney General is ³looking into it.²

PDA-endorsed candidate Jeeni Criscenzo
<http://pdamerica.org/articles/campaigns/criscenzo.php>  (CA-49th) called a
Town Hall meeting with PDA chapters <http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=719> ,
allies, and investigative journalist/ blogger Brad Friedman
<http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=714>  of Bradblog.com, to publicize the
problem and seek legal remedy. CNN¹s Lou Dobbs picked up and reported the
story as articles appeared in the mainstream media on the perils of
e-voting: Washington Post, USA Today, San Diego Chronicle.

PDA led on this issue in the aftermath of 2004. Board Member John Conyers
<http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120404W.shtml>  held historic hearings on
Ohio's massive voter suppression and machine irregularities
<http://www.pdamerica.org/field/final%20status%20report.pdf> . PDA Board
Member John Bonifaz testified and Executive Director Tim Carpenter and
Political Director Kevin Spidel
<http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010805X.shtml>  helped Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition bring voters' testimony to Capitol Hill
<http://pdamerica.org/press/pr-2004-12-08.php> .

Bonifaz is now running for Secretary of State in Massachusetts
<http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/campaigns/bonifaz.php> . PDA is helping
him lead the nation's elections officials to election integrity.

California's PDA chapters are blowing the whistle on Registrars who won¹t
protect the vote, who refuse to follow requirements for the e-voting
transition. 

This is not about the Busby-Bilbray race. This is about November. This is
about the legitimate transfer of power in the House and Senate.

Because California is in the GOP's sights. The LA Times reported Sunday,
June 23, that GOP ³activists poured into San Diego" after a D.C. meeting of
"Republican strategists² four days before the bellwether election that would
predict GOP strength in November. In one weekend, the ³activists² supposedly
netted 10,000 new GOP absentee ballots! 3000 a day! This miracle was
attributed to the 'high-tech edge' of the GOP's database, called 'Voter
Vault.' 

In 2002, Jeeni Criscenzo¹s current opponent, GOP Congressman Darrell Issa,
friend of Tom DeLay, spent personal millions to recall California¹s
Democratic Governor and elect Arnold Schwarzenegger in time for Bush/Cheney
2004. Our Democratic Secretary of State, who refused to certify Diebold, was
next on the chopping-block; he was hounded from office by allegations that
were never prosecuted or proven. His GOP successor certified Diebold,
insuring the mess in San Diego County.

California¹s House races will be decided late in the day in November. PDA
activists, with partners and allies like DFA, are forming the thin blue line
against fraud in vulnerable counties across the nation. In California, we
have already responded to a shocking purge of first-time voters by getting
the Secretary of State to allow other data to keep voters on the rolls if
they fail exact-match ID with DMV records. State-by-state, PDA activists do
similar work.

PDA Board Member Greg Moore, formerly of the NAACP and now head of the DNC¹s
Voting Rights Institute, has convinced Howard Dean to form a concerted
strategy to protect Democratic voters from fraud in November. That's a major
step forward and we are greatful!

But pollwatchers can¹t see inside computers. And lawyers won¹t do much good
if established precedent gives Registrars latitude to decide which laws and
regulations they¹ll follow and which they won¹t. 2006 requires new election
protection strategies, and PDA is in the forefront.

We need your donation today. Your federal election dollars spent with PDA
will protect progressive voters, activists, officials and candidates. You¹ll
speak for peace and strike at fraud at the same time. PDA inspires voters to
the polls  and makes sure, once they¹re there, that their votes aren¹t
lost, shifted, prevented, or stolen! Become a PDA sustainer or make a
generous one-time donation at https://www.pdamerica.org/donate.php.
Give as much as you can, because we¹re fighting the fraud other
organizations won¹t even face. Join our new Election Protection Working
Group by emailing electionprotection at pdamerica.org. You¹ll be contacted to
help with our first task: producing a Pollworkers¹ Manual that spells out
federal elections law so that pollworkers, asked to violate election law and
ignore legal procedures will know what to do. We¹ll continue demanding that
votes be cast, counted - and counted as cast by fighting machine fraud on
many fronts, and mitigating their peril on Election Day. PDA pollworkers
will demand ungamed random manual audits (in states that have them); will
challenge questionable tallies and vote spoilage; will blow the whistle on
security violations.

Strike at fraud; speak for peace. Help PDA make November safe for the
progressive vote.

Peace,

Mimi Kennedy PDA Board Chair
Stephen Shaff, PDA Board Vice-Chair
Medea Benjamin PDA Board Member
John C. Bonifaz PDA Board Member
Steve Cobble PDA Board Member
William Rivers Pitt, PDA Editorial Director
Joel Segal PDA Board Member
David Swanson PDA Board Member
Rev. Lennox Yearwood PDA Board Member

Authorized and Paid for by Progressive Democrats of America.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.

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