Re: 6/17 Daily Camera editorial/ERC report; cooperating with the enemy

[Ralph Shnelvar <ralphs@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear friends:

In a different context, Butler Shaffer is reported
(http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000731.html) to have said, "...
We would be better advised to confront our own existential cowardice.
Political leaders amass power only through our moral exhaustion; they are
strong only because we have allowed ourselves to become weak."

To plod along cooperating with the powers-that-be weakens us.  The only way
to effect change is to work from the outside applying enormous pressure.

To apply enormous pressure requires enormous outrage since this is the only
pressure available to a disenfranchised electorate.

God bless Joe Pezzillo.  If we only had another 10,000 like him then maybe,
just maybe, this stupid system would change for the better.

Resistance may be futile.  Cooperation, though is definitely futile.  I
prefer resistance.

Ralph Shnelvar



On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 08:57:40 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:

>But of course there will be no accountability for the mistakes: the people who recommended the purchase of Hart will plod along in their jobs (though one showing a degree of integrity did resign); those who endorsed and signed an offensively flawed contract will plod along in their jobs, too.
> 
>kell
>
>Doug Grinbergs <saule@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/editorials/article/0,1713,BDC_2489_3860994,00.html 
>
>Making lemonade
>Recommendations on voting will help - for now
>Daily Camera
>June 17, 2005
>
>It was distressing to learn, in a report by Boulder County's Election 
>Review Committee released this week, that the county's new, 
>$1.4-million Hart InterCivic optical scanning system would, under 
>"optimal" conditions, yield general election results in "24-28 hours."
>
>In other words, working as intended, this "high-tech" system is a day 
>late - on a good day - and short of ideal. According to Hart 
>InterCivic, the system wasn't designed to handle a precinct-based 
>general election.
>
>It looks like taxpayers may have bought a bit of a lemon.
>
>Nevertheless, for now, it's the system we've got. The county's old, 
>relatively reliable punch-card machines were essentially nixed by the 
>federal Help America Vote Act, which required counties to turn to 
>different technology or lose funding.
>
>The committee found that many factors contributed to the November 
>debacle, in which the county took three days to count the vote. The 
>biggest bug was ballots that were unreadable by the new machines, in 
>part because the printer - Eagle Direct Inc. - did not have proper 
>specifications. But a shortage of trained volunteers, a contingency 
>plan in case of problems and other factors contributed.
>
>The committee made some sound recommendations for the coming November 
>vote, including: Using a mail ballot; rental or purchase of 
>additional scanners; providing ballot specifications to potential 
>printers; and better training for election judges.
>
>Unrelated to the November delay, the committee also wisely urged the 
>county to develop a legal, accurate system for a manual audit process.
>
>The committee did good work. But even if it works perfectly, the Hart 
>InterCivic system will be unacceptably slow in a general election. 
>That's a real problem for the future.
>
>		
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