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

[Evan Daniel Ravitz <evan@xxxxxxxx>]

Amen!

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005, Ralph Shnelvar wrote:

> 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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