Bob,
You are making a big mistake encouraging voters, who have the option to vote
on a paper ballot in their precinct, to vote by absentee instead. Many of
them will lose their vote altogether.
For voters who have the choice of voting using a paper ballot in their precinct or in an early voting location - they should do so.
Al
Al Kolwicz
CAMBER
Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results
2867 Tincup Circle
Boulder, CO 80305
303-494-1540
AlKolwicz@xxxxxxxxx
www.users.qwest.net/~alkolwicz
http://coloradovoter.blogspot.com
_____
From: Mcgrath, Bob___PAIC_Mkt [mailto:bob.mcgrath@xxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2004 4:37 PM To: Mcgrath, Bob___PAIC_Mkt Subject: 46 DAYS TILL ELECTION DAY! - CAN WE PROTECT THE VOTE?
Weekly Newsbrief
Two events You Can Support:
Sunday, Sept. 26 - "Just Desserts" Forum features Films & Desserts
Arvada United Methodist Church, 68th & Carr St., 303-421-5135, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
"Trouble in Paradise" & "Invisible Ballots" Movies & Q&A on Protect Your Vote
Come see Trouble in Paradise, a movie detailing the problems continuing in
Florida in the 2002 elections, showing why fair elections in 2004 may not be
possible. This will be followed by clips from Invisible Ballots, a film
produced by True Vote Maryland, a citizens activist group similar to
Coloradoans for Voting Integrity, detailing the problems with electronic
voting machines. Desserts and coffees, teas and other refreshments will be
provided with time to meet and discuss the films. We will be asking people
to support the Sept. 29th rally.
Wednesday, Sept. 29 - "Don't Let the Computer Eat Your Vote" Rally
West Steps, State Capitol, downtown Denver, 12 noon - 1:00 p.m.
Come join with other citizens to express your desire for trustworthy
elections in November. We will be asking for voter verifiable paper ballots
with 1% automatic manual audits of all machine-counted ballots, to ensure
there are no opportunities for malfunctions or malfeasance in this year's
critically important elections. Come hear various political candidates from
major parties discuss their support of verifiable voting and sign a pledge
for trustworthy elections. Co-sponsored by the Coloradoans for Voting
Integrity and the Rocky Mt. Peace & Justice Center of Boulder.
This critical election, 1/3 of Colorado voters will use insecure electronic
machines with no possibility of recount. Many others will have their votes
counted by optical scan machines, which are subject to the same problems of
error and fraud as electronic voting machines. The Secretary of State has
ignored the petitions of 14,000 Coloradoans for voter-verified paper ballots
in all elections. We demand paper ballots, hand counted. Please come out and
help protect our elections. Carpool from Boulder at Table Mesa Park and Ride
at 11 a.m.(Table Mesa Road I-36). For more information, call 303-444-6981x5.
For more info on this issue, go to http://www.verifiedvoting.org/resources/hr2239_volunteers/Introduction-5-pag es.pdf or to www.cfvi.org
Other Actions:
CFVI has explored legal action but has been unable to pursue a lawsuit due to unavailability of Colorado-based facts with which to bring such a preliminary injunctions. Our actions will instead now focus upon our HOTLINE, collecting HAVA COMPLAINTS, ruthlessly pursuing MEDIA AND ADVERTISING, and building COALITION WITH OTHER GROUPS.
We are now in need of funds to execute an ad campaign about our hotline and to educate the public about verifiable voting in Colorado. We have tried approaching the media and they have turned a deaf ear or have mocked our efforts as that of "whiners, critics, liberals and progressives who don't understand the security measures already in place by our great leaders."
We have been meeting weekly for the past month, developing outreach
campaigns to county election officials, to political candidates in Colorado,
and pursuing our U.S. Congressional representatives. We can still use your
help in telephone or personal follow-up to the information packets that have
already been sent to over 350 individuals who can make a difference by
speaking out or by opting to offer voters a choice of paper ballots in the
polling place. If you can help make phone calls or talk to any of these
candidates or county election officials, we NEED YOU!
Our Current Advice:
Due to our inability to halt the use of un-auditable electronic voting machines, and due to our inability to call for a statistically significant manual audit of all optical scanners, we are calling on all Colorado citizens to do the following:
1. Vote absentee. Order your absentee ballot by October 3rd.
2. Cast your absentee ballot IN PERSON, AND AS LATE AS POSSIBLE (THE DAY BEFORE OR THE DAY OF THE ELECTION).
3. Encourage everyone you know to NOT vote early or vote in precinct voting.
If someone misses the absentee deadline, have them vote provisional.
4. Those voters voting provisional should go to the precinct location and submit themselves WITHOUT ID so they will be given a provisional paper ballot. Those people will be given a phone number to call to see if their ballot was counted within 12 days after the election. Due to the extremely tight races in this year's elections, it is likely that there will be court challenges over provisional ballots, but at least they will be on paper.
5. If you must vote on a machine, or if you are given a paper ballot to be optically scanned, again, try to vote provisional. Optical scanner tabulation software can just as easily be hacked into or compromised as the electronic voting machines.
6. If you experience or know of anyone who experiences any problems in
voting on election day, we will be providing a voter hotline to call with
such reports. There is also a Protect the Vote Hotline operated by People
for the American Way. Both hotlines will be advertised and promoted via the
media before and during election day.
7. We will be facilitating election complaints using the Help America Vote Act provisions. Stay tuned for details on this.
This is the election of our lifetime. Please vote as if your life, and the life of our democracy, depends upon it.
Bob McGrath, Director Coloradoans for Voting Integrity 355 Teller Ste 200 Lakewood, CO 80226 Tel. 303.231.1031 <http://www.cfvi.org> http://www.cfvi.org