| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 |  |
| Black Box Voting | 0 comments |
| 21 Feb 2006 @ 13:53 Please take action and forward to your contacts. This has national implications. For the first time ever, we have the opportunity to subpoena key voting industry witnesses to get them under oath in front of a senate hearing to investigate what the Sam Hill they were doing when they created and recommended tamper-friendly voting systems. We're sure by now you're aware that Calif. did an about face and certified Diebold's entire line of products -- hackable touch screens, hackable optical scanners, and extremely hackable GEMS tabulators -- despite 100% public opposition and numerous attacks proving the sytems' fatal flaws and insecurities. But this isn't just California. Get these people under oath in California, and you get them questioned for the whole nation. Everything is at stake. We are putting some very important phone numbers and emails here along with simple instructions for what we all need to do. We have everything to lose if we don't all take a few simple steps immediately. EVERY STATE is experiencing issues with secret, privatized voting equipment examined by mysterious private contractors who won't answer any questions at all about what they do. Here is the most efficient, easiest strategy to counteract shoving illegal and insecure systems that we never asked for down our throats. This action is the culmination of years of hard-core work by Black Box Voting and others. JUST DO IT. Here are the simple, painless suggestions. See below for why they are so important. WHAT'S DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS CALL TO ACTION: 1) All we need is three out of five senators. 2) All five are interested and willing to listen 3) This is the FIRST time Black Box Voting has issued a call to action. HERE IS THE CONTACT LIST FOR THE FIVE RULES COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Urge support for subpoenas of election industry and certification insiders. (Among those who chickened out of testimony on Feb. 16: Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and Hart Intercivic; Ciber labs, Wyle labs, and voting system examiners). IT'S ONLY 5 EMAILS/FAXES/CALLS. MAKE THEM ALL. Senator Don Perata (Chair) D (916) 651-4009 District office (510) 286-1333 Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov Fax (510) 286-3885 Perata Senator Jim Battin (Vice-Chair) R (916) 651-4037 Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov Fax: (951) 653-9524 Battin Senator Roy Ashburn R (916) 651-4018 senator.ashburn@sen.ca.gov Fax: (661) 323-0446 Ashburn Senator Debra Bowen D - She is on the rules committee and is also the chairperson of the Senate Elections Committee. EMAIL ONLY Debra@debrabowen.com - (Ms. Bowen is mounting this case and will be busy preparing, emails are welcomed-- See below*) Fax (310) 318-6733 Bowen Senator Gilbert Cedillo D (916) 651-4022 Fax (916) 327-8817 Cedillo This is about volume of calls logged, emails sent. Make the contacts and make sure this goes out to your list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHAT TO SAY: Be concise, be polite, be professional. Here's your message: You want Rules Committee support for subpoenas of election industry and certification insiders to answer the Elections Committee's questions about voting machine programming, examination and certification. A sample letter is provided below in this email. That's it. Short and simple. Polite, professional, firm. Short clear message. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SAMPLE LETTER Senator ____, California Senate Election Committee Dear Senator ____, I urge you to take a courageous stand to issue port subpeonas to key representatives and officials from Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and Hart Intercivic, as well as Wyle and Ciber Testing Labs and state voting system examiners who fail to appear for your hearings on this matter. I also urge you to subpoena documents as needed, including the non- disclosure agreements signed between examiners and vendors, and all other documents needed to assess the integrity of the certification process. Voters must be able to ensure that voting systems are secure from tampering, either by outsiders or by insiders. If the citizenry cannot see for itself that elections are secure, that our votes are being counted as we cast them, it is only a matter of time before the very fabric of our nation is torn to pieces. Flawed, hackable systems have been approved that violate FEC guidelines. Some of these systems are so deeply flawed that they defy common sense. It is imperative that the elections industry insiders who were party to the design, examination and recommendation of these systems appear before California's Senate Election Committee in open hearings under oath to answer questions and address these serious concerns. Sincerely, [name] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FROM CALIF. SENATE ELECTIONS COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON BOWEN: "We are going to need an enormous amount of people power in the next couple of weeks. Together we can change this whole pathetic mess. Let's stand up for our democracy RIGHT NOW." "Email is great because it is easy for us to log and report -- and we can actually prove how many emails we've received!" "Please email me in support of issuing subpoenas rather than calling you will save my staff a great deal of time logging calls, and you know what kind work we have to do right now. You can always call and fax later!" Debra Bowen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLICK HERE TO READ MORE More > |