Re: DRAFT: CVV Press Release

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good, Joe - Thanks.

But you keep forgetting one issue that the group has consensus on -
disclosure of software....

A few suggestions:

 and can stop the irresponsible purchase of DRE systems."

and can stop the purchase of inherently insecure DRE systems.

 Electronic Votintg.

[spelling]

Add this somewhere:

 CVV also helped convince Rep Mark Udall to cosponsor legislation on
 the issue.


 Among CVV's next steps is to....

continue to press for passage of the Voter Confidence Act (HR 2239,
S 1930), which would mandate voter verifiable paper ballots nationwide
and require the disclosure of all source code used by voting systems
to all citizens.

Cheers,

Neal McBurnett                 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
Signed and/or sealed mail encouraged.  GPG/PGP Keyid: 2C9EBA60

On Fri, Dec 12, 2003 at 02:42:10PM -0700, Joe Pezzillo wrote:
> 
> I repeat, this is only a DRAFT, and therefore please give me your 
> feedback ASAP so that it can become final still today. -Joe
> 
> ----------
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
> December 12th, 2003
> 
> CITIZENS FOR VERIFIABLE VOTING
> contact: Joe Pezzillo, Spokesperson, Citizens for Verifiable Voting,
> http://www.coloradovoter.net
> 	      303-938-8850 jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> NEWS: CITIZENS BLOCK PURCHASE OF ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM IN BOULDER,
> COLORADO
> 
> Boulder, Colorado - An ad hoc group of concerned citizens in Boulder
> County, Colorado calling itself Citizens for Verifiable Voting has
> convinced the local County Clerk's office to delay the planned purchase
> of a new voting system that would have included the controversial
> Direct Record Electronic (DRE) vote recording computers and instead
> adopt the citizen's resolution that only a Paper Ballot will provide an
> adequate level of voter confidence for the upcoming 2004 Election.
> 
> "We're extremely grateful to the County Clerk's office for clearly
> taking our concerns into consideration and for announcing a position
> that appears to be entirely consistent with the Citizen's requests for
> a paper ballot," stated Joe Pezzillo, spokesperson for the group, in
> attendance at the County Clerk's announcement. "We're also grateful
> that we are demonstrating that active and engaged citizens can and do
> make a difference, and can stop the irresponsible purchase of DRE
> systems."
> 
> Indeed, the citizens of Boulder County have been active and engaged,
> conducting their own independent process including: four large public
> meetings with more than a hundred total attendees; extensive outreach
> and education to citizens and the media resulting in repeated press
> coverage and including a 100% collaboratively produced website and
> active public e-mail list; preparing a Citizen's Resolution calling for
> paper ballots that received the written endorsement or support of all
> four of Boulder County's political parties; meetings with County
> Election officials; legal research and correspondence of clarifications
> with the Secretary of State, legislators and vendors; collecting
> hundreds of physical signatures on petitions; and a formal presentation
> to the Boulder County Commissioners.
> 
> The ten-minute presentation -- which included specific legal
> explanations of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) showing that DREs are
> NOT required to be purchased, as is widely and mistakenly believed --
> makes the Citizen's case for voter-verifiable, full-text, physically
> marked PAPER BALLOTS, with Pezzillo saying bluntly at one point "Paper
> Ballots equals Voter Confidence, no Paper Ballot equals NO voter
> confidence."
> 
> The full presentation is available via streaming media from the
> Citizens for Verifiable Voting website at http://www.coloradovoter.net,
> which also hosts an archive of the group's activities, research, and
> documents, including the mailing list.
> 
> Among CVV's next steps is to prepare materials to help Citizen
> Activists mobilize their local communities around this and other issues
> related to Electronic Votintg. And as CVV has demonstrated, active and
> engaged citizens can have a substantial impact on this issue when they
> get involved and take some basic steps.
> 
> Concerned Citizen Activists should contact CVV at the contact info
> above, via the mailing list, or via the Electronic Frontier
> Foundation's (EFF) organizational efforts on this issue, see:
> http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/.
> 
> For voters in the State of Colorado, a statewide group has been formed
> to address a broad range of Electronic Voting issues, including
> touch-screens, the ePollbook, and election law reform. Join their
> efforts online by visiting their website at
> http://www.countthevotecolorado.org
> 
> 
> ###