Coloradoans for Voting Integrity Update

CFVI Update: Friday, October 15, 2004
Issue: 17

Click on any highlighted link below for more information.

HELP MAKE OUR VOTES COUNT! VOLUNTEER WITH CFVI NOW!

CFVI is part of a national campaign to try to ensure that our votes count.

We have Volunteer Opportunities to ensure an accurate election. 200 Volunteers needed on Election Day!

Below are some ways you can help to ensure that the voting machines and vote counting machines have recorded votes accurately. Election day and the days before and after the election are vital times for gathering certain types of information which will help us determine whether the machines are working correctly. Everyone's efforts are needed.

Please contact Carolyn Bninski at 303-444-6981x5 if you plan to help with any of the tasks below. Note special instructions for poll watchers and official canvassers. We are asking ALL volunteers to contact us and to come to one of our trainings listed below.

Volunteer Opportunities:
Visit precincts at the end of the day and record the numbers of votes for each candidate and for the initiatives posted outside the precincts. This process is important to insure that the voting machines figures and the number of people who voted match. This task will begin around 7:00 p.m. and will last 2-3 hours.

Staff a hotline-
Report election problems that occur throughout the day. This will go into a national database. You can volunteer for as many hours as you are available.

Poll Watch or Official Canvasser
-Canvassers monitor the counting of Absentee Ballots/Early Voting Results/Election Day Results/and Provisional Ballots both during the day and in the evening. They work at central tabulations.

-Poll watchers represent your favorite candidate or ballot issue by watching voting at the precincts. Help verified voting by comparing numbers of people voting with actual tabulations. At the end of the day, we will be comparing counts. This is an all day job.

To become a poll watcher or official canvasser in Jefferson County you can contact one of the following:

? Democratic Party Contact 303-237-1359 calvingjohnston@xxxxxxx

? Tanya Ishikawa Green Party candidate 3093-635-2636

? Jefferson County Republican Party Headquarters 303-277-1113

? Libertarian Party 303-837-9393 or Mike McKenzie 303-587-3720

? Coors campaign: 303-4707001

? Salazar campaign: 303-3002004

? Denver Dems: 303-8308242 Sharon Klein

? Denver Republicans: Mike Nelligan 303-7829555

If you want to be a poll watcher in another county, please call Carolyn Bninski.

Election Judge-you are employed by the county to work the elections. Call your county clerk to sign up. The counties are short staffed, and are hiring for pre-election work as well. Please let us know if you do this.

CFVI Trainings on what you will be looking for will be held:
Thursday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. at 1516 Xavier St, 4th Floor in Denver
Saturday, October 30 at 10 a.m. at 205 Canyon, Boulder.

Voters in Denver, Jefferson, Arapahoe and El Paso Counties: Vote with absentee ballots!
Hand-carry the ballots on Election Day.
These counties have touch screen computer voting ballot. If you vote on the computer, there is no paper 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: Oct 28, 2004
Volunteer Activity - CFVI Training for Election Day:
CFVI Trainings for Election Day will be held:
Thursday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. at 1516 Xavier St, 4th Floor in Denver
Saturday, October 30 at 10 a.m. at 205 Canyon, Boulder.
Find out more.

Event Date: Oct 30, 2004
Volunteer Activity - CFVI Training for Election Day:
CFVI Trainings for Election Day will be held:
Thursday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. at 1516 Xavier St, 4th Floor in Denver
Saturday, October 30 at 10 a.m. at 205 Canyon, Boulder.
Find out more.

Event Date: Nov 02, 2004
Other - US Election:
Election Day!
Find out more.

Latest News Articles:

E-Voting Vendors, Foes Count Down To Election Day

With accusations spreading about electronic voting susceptibility to tampering, watchdog groups are calling on computer experts to come to the polls not only to vote, but to watch others vote. So far the Verified Voting Foundation (VVF) has recruited more than 1,300 volunteers for its TechWatch program. Prior to the election, volunteers will observe tests conducted by election officials to make sure the equipment is working correctly. On Election Day, watchers will be posted at the polls and filing web-based incident reports as necessary. The Election Incident Reporting System is designed to allow volunteers to rapidly collect information about election irregularities, and instantly alert attorneys and technology professionals to potential problems.

Here's a link to the article

Posted by: Admin on 2004-10-13 22:28:41
Read More...

E-Voting Rountable

Siliconvalley.com is sponsoring a weeklong e-voting roundtable. Check out the site and submit your questions. Surprise of surprises, "Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems declined to participate in this discussion."

E-Voting Roundtable

Posted by: Earache on 2004-10-13 22:20:37

E-Voting Machine Crash Deepens Concerns

A computer crash that forced a pre-election test of electronic voting machines to be postponed was trumpeted by critics as proof of the balloting technology's unreliability. The incident in Palm Beach County ? which is infamous for its hanging and pregnant chads during the 2000 presidential election ? did not directly involve the touch-screen terminals on which nearly one in three U.S. voters will cast ballots on Election Day.

Here's a link to the article

Posted by: Admin on 2004-10-13 22:15:25
Read More...

Diebold and the Disabled

Many disabled groups have been supporting electronic voting machines, going so far as suing states for not installing the machines. I've never understood the reasoning for this. Sure they allow people to vote without assistance, but what happens if that vote in never counted. Wired has posted an article which suggests that lobbying by the disabled may have more to do with money than equal access. Sounds like a touchy issue.

Here's a link to the article

Posted by: Earache on 2004-10-13 20:44:49

Letter to Colorado Secretary of State, Donneta Davidson

To the office of the Colorado Secretary of State
Donnetta Davidson

Dear Ms. Lisa Doran:

You stated that ?Unfortunately there is well-documented historical proof that elections conducted with paper ballots are easily subject to human error and fraud.? But you failed to account for the more grievous fraud that can be foisted on the electorate by an electronic system

? that does not provide paper ballot validation,
? that can be hacked by computer professionals,
? that can be manipulated by one or two lines of code,
? that does not allow for a meaningful ballot recount (not aggregate data),
? whose COUNTING software is not scrutinized and not publicized,
? whose Operating System software remains beyond the scrutiny of your tests,
? whose machine code goes unchallenged by your tests, and
? whose owners? credentials are highly suspect and whose political bias is widely known.

Your DRE voting solution, and this repetitive mumbo-jumbo that your office continues to regurgitate is an affront to all computer professionals, including me. We know how easy it would be to manipulate an election when the results produced are only provided in AGGREGATE form instead of itemized voting records, and when there is no paper ballot trail.

This is a serious matter. In computer parlance, redundancy of systems is desirable for reliability and accuracy. But by not providing a paper ballot trail your office has removed the most critical element from a verifiable election.

Has your office validated the ES&S iVotronic machine code? The Operating System? The software that counts the votes? Do you know why the ES&S iVotronic machines only provide AGGREGATE data, summary data? You cannot answer yes to any of these questions because ES&S, owned by Mr. Urosevich, refuses to make public the machine code, the operating system code, and the counting software code; he defends his actions on ?proprietary? grounds.

But we are talking about ?public? voting systems that should be TRANSPARENT, and OPEN to public review and scrutiny. This system is not.

And why is your office so resistant to providing a paper trail?

The voting system in Colorado, with its 56.8% DRE electronic voting machines, is vulnerable to corruption, and is thus unacceptable. There must be a verifiable method for recounting ballots.

Posted by: Admin on 2004-10-12 15:56:45

Latest Links:

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

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