Georgians to File Lawsuit Asserting E-Voting Rights Violations

["Al Kolwicz" <alkolwicz@xxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Garland Favorito [mailto:garlandf@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 7:36 PM
To: garlandf@xxxxxxx
Subject: Georgians to File Lawsuit Asserting E-Voting Rights Violations

Press Release                                           

June 22, 2006                                            

Georgians to File Lawsuit Asserting E-Voting Rights Violations

ATLANTA, GA - A new, diverse, non-partisan coalition of Georgia voters
announced today that it will file a lawsuit on behalf of all nine million
current and future Georgia voters to seek relief from Georgia's existing
implementation of electronic voting.  Representatives of the group, known as
VoterGA, explained that current statewide voting cannot be verified, audited
or recounted. They contend that because no direct physical evidence of voter
intent is ever captured by the machines, fraud and errors are now virtually
undetectable statewide. 

Prior to 2002, about 82% of Georgians used optical scan and punch card
equipment to cast ballots that could be verified, audited and recounted. The
2002 statewide E-voting implementation reduced that percentage from 82% to
zero. Two years later, Free Congress Foundation rated Georgia as having the
worst voting systems and procedures in America. As rationale for the rating,
VoterGA founder, Garland Favorito, posed the question: "If voters cannot see
their own ballot selections, cannot physically verify that their ballot was
ever cast and cannot participate in counting the ballots, how could they be
further disenfranchised?" 

Mark Sawyer, who is also a member of Defenders of Democracy, explained why
Georgia activists decided that a lawsuit was necessary: "We have been
fighting to preserve basic audit capabilities since the voting machines were
being evaluated and we've met every kind of resistance imaginable". 

VoterGA retained Walker Chandler to represent what they believe are the
interests of all Georgians. Chandler is a former Libertarian Attorney
General candidate who has already won a U.S. Supreme Court decision against
the state for unreasonable search and seizure violations of the 4th
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

VoterGA stands for Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia.
Its supporters include national voting organizations, Georgia civic
organizations, Georgia chapters of national political parties and
unaffiliated concerned citizens. More information can be found at the
organization's web site, www.voterga.org <http://www.voterga.org> .

Media Contacts: Mark Sawyer (404) 325-2835, Garland Favorito (404) 664-4044