CFVI Update: Thursday, October 14, 2004
Issue: 16
Click on any highlighted link below for more information.
IT'S CRUNCH TIME! ONLY 3 WEEKS LEFT BEFORE THE
ELECTION!
How confident do you feel that your hard work to elect your candidate will pay off this election?
What if it was rigged to fail? What if close results push us into a recount, but our systems aren't set up to perform recounts? What if Colorado in 2004 becomes what Florida was to the 2000 election? It could happen. Over half of the state's votes will be cast upon electronic voting machines that do NOT offer a paper trail or any other method of verifying that your vote was accurately captured when you touch the touchscreen.
Our group, Coloradoans for Voting Integrity, has labored for the past year to work with our legislators, to hold rallies, to educate election officials, to train volunteers, and to provide information to the media to protect our votes.
Guess what?
The legislators have turned this non-partisan issue into a partisan defense of our Secretary of State (Republican) and whatever (bad) advice she has given.
The election community has circled the wagons against any critics or people who might actually KNOW something about computer fallibility or systems integrity, or election security processes.
The media has IGNORED our rallies, our letters to the editor, and our appeals for common sense, using every contact as an opportunity to hand an open mic or a blank slate for the election officials to repeat their (un)assuring messages of blind trust in their (non-scientific) judgement.
So folks, it's time to pay to get our message out. We need your help to pay for space ads in the Post, the News, on radio shows and, if budgets allow, on television.
We have a team ready to produce videos or CDs containing various scenarios showing what may happen if we allow this (non-protected) election to transpire as if nothing is wrong. But duplication and distribution of this information to the media takes money and time.
Won't you help? (Remember, by donating to CFVI, you are making a tax deductible donation to safe elections!)
$1000 helps us fund one week of our PR firm to pitch these stories to the press, or to arrange for press conferences and interviews for our story to get heard in these remaining days before the election, or to write and transmit media advisories and media kits.
$500 helps us fund production costs for filming and scripting videos for distribution to the media and to election officials and county party officials, or helps fund T-shirts for our volunteers.
$100 helps us buy 100 CD's to distribute to the media, containing video messages, skits, and even clips from various TV shows that have already commented on the dangers of use of these machines.
$50 helps us buy a couple radio spots on local talk radio.
$25 helps us pay for postage and supplies to take our message to the major Party Chairs in the counties in Colorado that will vote by electronic voting machines, or to buy buttons or a few T-shirts to make our volunteers visible on election day, when we will act as poll monitors.
What will you say to the next generation when they asked what costs you were wiling to pay to protect our democracy in this election?
For more info, please visit CFVI and Verified Voting
Bob McGrath, Director
CFVI
P.S. Tight on funds? How about volunteering to help us? We need volunteers to monitor the processing of absentee ballots. This is a critical way to ensure that ballots don't get spoiled! WE want ballots to be counted, and we need public oversight over our election officials to make sure they're doing their job! Contact your favorite candidate or campaign to volunteer to be a central counting poll watcher, in particular for the absentee ballot or early ballot counting!
Don't forget, Oct 26 = last day for receiving a mail-in absentee ballot; Oct 29 = last day to apply for a hand-carried absentee ballot.
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How confident do you feel that your hard work to elect your candidate will pay off this election?
What if it was rigged to fail? What if close results push us into a recount, but our systems aren't set up to perform recounts? What if Colorado in 2004 becomes what Florida was to the 2000 election? It could happen. Over half of the state's votes will be cast upon electronic voting machines that do NOT offer a paper trail or any other method of verifying that your vote was accurately captured when you touch the touchscreen.
Our group, Coloradoans for Voting Integrity, has labored for the past year to work with our legislators, to hold rallies, to educate election officials, to train volunteers, and to provide information to the media to protect our votes.
Guess what?
The legislators have turned this non-partisan issue into a partisan defense of our Secretary of State (Republican) and whatever (bad) advice she has given.
The election community has circled the wagons against any critics or people who might actually KNOW something about computer fallibility or systems integrity, or election security processes.
The media has IGNORED our rallies, our letters to the editor, and our appeals for common sense, using every contact as an opportunity to hand an open mic or a blank slate for the election officials to repeat their (un)assuring messages of blind trust in their (non-scientific) judgement.
So folks, it's time to pay to get our message out. We need your help to pay for space ads in the Post, the News, on radio shows and, if budgets allow, on television.
We have a team ready to produce videos or CDs containing various scenarios showing what may happen if we allow this (non-protected) election to transpire as if nothing is wrong. But duplication and distribution of this information to the media takes money and time.
Won't you help? (Remember, by donating to CFVI, you are making a tax deductible donation to safe elections!)
$1000 helps us fund one week of our PR firm to pitch these stories to the press, or to arrange for press conferences and interviews for our story to get heard in these remaining days before the election, or to write and transmit media advisories and media kits.
$500 helps us fund production costs for filming and scripting videos for distribution to the media and to election officials and county party officials, or helps fund T-shirts for our volunteers.
$100 helps us buy 100 CD's to distribute to the media, containing video messages, skits, and even clips from various TV shows that have already commented on the dangers of use of these machines.
$50 helps us buy a couple radio spots on local talk radio.
$25 helps us pay for postage and supplies to take our message to the major Party Chairs in the counties in Colorado that will vote by electronic voting machines, or to buy buttons or a few T-shirts to make our volunteers visible on election day, when we will act as poll monitors.
What will you say to the next generation when they asked what costs you were wiling to pay to protect our democracy in this election?
For more info, please visit CFVI and Verified Voting
Bob McGrath, Director
CFVI
P.S. Tight on funds? How about volunteering to help us? We need volunteers to monitor the processing of absentee ballots. This is a critical way to ensure that ballots don't get spoiled! WE want ballots to be counted, and we need public oversight over our election officials to make sure they're doing their job! Contact your favorite candidate or campaign to volunteer to be a central counting poll watcher, in particular for the absentee ballot or early ballot counting!
Don't forget, Oct 26 = last day for receiving a mail-in absentee ballot; Oct 29 = last day to apply for a hand-carried absentee ballot.
Events:
Event Date: Oct 19, 2004
Meetings - CFVI Meeting:
We will be meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night at the Maes Building on Colfax & Xavier Streets in Lakewood, to discuss developing an intensive campaign aimed at PR, increasing media coverage and focusing political and people-powered pressure upon the Secretary of State's Office.
Find out more.
Event Date: Oct 26, 2004
Meetings - CFVI Meeting:
We will be meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night at the Maes Building on Colfax & Xavier Streets in Lakewood, to discuss developing an intensive campaign aimed at PR, increasing media coverage and focusing political and people-powered pressure upon the Secretary of State's Office.
Find out more.
Event Date: Nov 02, 2004
Other - US Election:
Election Day!
Find out more.
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Become An Election Protection Volunteer!
In the last presidential election, millions of votes were never counted. Voters in minority communities were disproportionately disenfranchised through illegal disqualification, intimidation, and faulty voting machines. The nonpartisan Election Protection coalition needs you to stand up and defend voting rights November 2!
Electronic Frontier Foundation
EFF E-Voting The 2004 presidential election might not be flawed like the last one was; it might be even worse. Communities across America are purchasing electronic voting (e-voting) machines, but the technology has serious security problems that aren't being addressed. Most of the machines use "black box" software that hasn't been publicly reviewed for security. Almost none provide voter-verifiable paper ballots to detect fraud. A recent analysis by several academic researchers outlines the many and varied ways that anyone from a technically proficient insider to an average voter could disrupt an e-voting system to defraud an election. The response of some of the companies that make e-voting machines has been even more upsetting. Instead of embracing close technical review and public interest in its products, one of the three major manufacturers of these machines has embarked upon a campaign of sending cease-and-desist letters to those who criticize it. The company first sent one to the academic researchers and then later sent many to individuals and groups who republished internal email messages that reveal both the problems with the systems and employee attempts to cover up those problems. E-Voting technology is promising, but its benefits should not obscure its dangers. Without basic auditing checks, these machines dramatically increase the chances for undetectable election fraud. This archive is a resource in the fight for accountable elections and responsible voting technology. NOTE: More information on all litigation related to verified voting is available at http://www.verifiedvoting.org/legal/
Contact the Congress!
Contacting the Congress is a very up-to-date database of congressional contact information for the 108th Congress. As of August 14, 2004 there are 520 email addresses (of which 448 are Web-based email homepages), and 540 WWW homepages known for the 540 members of the 108th Congress. More traditional ground mail addresses are available for all Congressmembers
Voters Unite!
About Us We believe we can make a difference, but we can't do it alone. We need you, too. Our highest priority is to work toward elections in which we can be confident. We have been very active in the fight for verifiable voting, and we feel an urgency to participate in unity of action with all the diverse groups and individuals who now consider themselves 'voting activists' as well as those who have recently become concerned about elections in the United States. Ellen Theisen worked with VerifiedVoting.org from August 2003 through March 2004. She spearheaded the volunteer lobbying efforts that tripled the number of co-sponsors for H.R.2239 and led to the introduction of companion Senate bills. She is now dedicated to unifying activists in an effort to secure our elections. Peter Johnson, activist, grassroots mobilizer, and founder of www.americanether.net. Helping to free information and encourage civic participation, he has assisted various organizations working for election accountability and transparency.
Coloradoans for Voting Integrity
7114 West Jefferson Avenue, Suite 100
Lakewood, CO 80235
Ph: (303) 231-1031 | Fx: (303) 980-0609
7114 West Jefferson Avenue, Suite 100
Lakewood, CO 80235
Ph: (303) 231-1031 | Fx: (303) 980-0609
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