From: Bev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To: mcgrath_mcnally@xxxxxxx Subject: Election Cleanup Stuff - from Bev Harris Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:29:30 -0700
From: Bev Harris, Andy Stephenson, Black Box Voting - Oct 20-22 ?04 Re: Cleanup Crew
We are gearing up for the Nov. 2 Election. Here are today?s action items for Black Box Voting -- simple, easy to do and will give all groups information on what volunteers can and cannot watch on Election Night in each county.
A quick toot for other groups:
* www.voteprotect.org -- recommended as comprehensive database for reporting problems
* www.VoteWatch.org -- recommend participating in polling results and Mystery Voter projects
* www.VerifiedVoting.org -- recommend TechWatch program
* Let us know what your group is doing, and we?ll toot you the next time around
Black Box Voting: http://www.blackboxvoting.ORG (?.com? not related to us)
1. Check out the Cleanup Crew election monitoring list -- practical, effective vote-protection ACTION MENU for pre-election, Election Day, Election Night, post-election: http://www.BlackBoxVoting.org/?q=node/view/1196
The page also contains a MAP OF PROBLEM LOCATIONS in the U.S., based on ?voter-unfriendly behavior? by public officials.
2. CAN YOU HELP? We need your help with a quick ?Visitation Rights? project. Find out ahead of time what access citizens will get they get when they show up to observe vote-counting in each county, identify problem counties.
- Go to Black Box Voting (.ORG). Check out Cleanup Crew info, then go to CLEANUP FORUM (http://www.blackboxvoting.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi)
- Pick a state.
- E-mail each county the "Visitation Rights?" letter.
- This letter pins down what observers can or cannot watch, whether videotaping is allowed
- You?ll find the letter in the ?TOOL KIT? at the top of the Cleanup Crew Forum. Contact info is under each county.
- You do not need to live in the county or state to help. We need help e-mailing letters to as many officials as possible, as soon as possible.
- To avoid duplication of effort, when you send, post update immediately in the Cleanup forum
- Answers from county officials are getting posted in the forum where everyone can see them.
- Some counties, like Riverside County CA and Winnebago County IL, may be targeted for litigation or other actions, because they do not allow observers for certain key functions.
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Now for a quick change of subject: Two quick points for Nov. 2:
1 - When people ask, ?Do you think there will be problems with the machines on Nov. 2? the answer is, ?I expect there will be problems by Nov. 12.? Voting machine miscounts typically are not seen until the canvass. The canvass (audit) will take place from Nov. 3-12.
2 - Candidates need to stop conceding the election on Election Night. Tell your local political committees and candidates to hold off on their concession -- there is no reason to hurry, and there are legitimate reasons to wait:
- We expect an unusual number of provisional ballots this time. Provisional ballots are not included in media projections.
- Voting machine miscounts typically do not appear until the canvass. Error rates can be high, and can even flip the totals. Broward County, FL 2002: 103,000 votes were missed altogether the first time around. Gretna County Nebraska, all ?yes? votes were recorded as ?no.? Al Gore privately conceded to George Bush in 2000, based on an erroneous ?minus 16,022 votes? from the GEMS central tabulator which caused the networks to call the election incorrectly. Urge candidates not to concede on projections or unaudited results.
WISH LIST: Can you help?
- Seattle office space needed for 4 week election blitz, immediately.
- Our search function doesn?t work on the BlackBoxVoting.org Web site. Can anyone help?
- We need donations to pay copying for a blitz of upcoming Freedom of Information requests, which will document many incidents not revealed by elections officials on Nov. 2. We need to raise $10,000 for this in short order.
- A lawyer is needed for Riverside to file an injunction to force them to allow observation of central tabulator and vote handling. They are currently in violation of California state law by refusing this.
- We need Frequent Flyer miles donations for on-site investigations after the election
- We need hotel stays for on-site investigations after the election
- Grunt work request -- some states on the Cleanup Forum don?t have counties broken out, and still need contact information. Texas has over 200 counties. A boring task, and we?ll love you forever if you jump in on this one.
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