It's up to YOU!
They're back: Diebold voting systems again seeks California certification: The public is invited to this important public hearing in Sacramento on November 21, 2005.
After an unusually long hiatus the Voting System Panel* (VSP) will brave its first voting system hearing since June 19th. This last hearing was a remarkable event with over 200 citizens voicing their opinions about Diebold--and with the exception of a couple of county clerks--opinions were unanimously negative for this company who has become the Enron of voting system manufacturers. [Scroll to end for important update**}
[See, http://www.insidebayarea.com/... ]
Aside from the long list of security problems, inauditable proprietary software, and equipment failures, Diebold--a company entrusted with our secret ballots--saw fit to hire felons with records for embezzlement and computer fraud--to write their software.
[See,
http://www.wired.com/... ]
And if this public relations nightmare weren't bad enough, Diebold's CEO Wally O'Dell bragged to the Ohio GOP leadership that he would deliver the Ohio vote for President Bush in the 2004 election..
[See, http://www.motherjones.com/... ]
Recent headlines have been no kinder. A recent mock election testing Diebold equipment was first reported to have had a 10% failure rate--but that number was later amended to be in excess of a staggering 20% failure rate.
[See, http://www.freepress.org/... ]
This news sent their stock prices plummeting.
[See, http://biz.yahoo.com/... ]
Then last week, the results of the Ohio election using Diebold equipment has once again caused a fury of speculation about the reliability of this company when Diebold's voting system tallies differed dramatically from that of the polls.
[See, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... ]
Though the mainstream media has yet to acknowledge it, all attendees of this hearing should be aware that the U.S. General Accounting Office's bipartisan commission has written a 99-page indictment of computerized voting.
[For the summary by Rep. John Conyers and link to the full document,
see: http://www.dailykos..com/... ]
Will California send Diebold packing on November 21st?
All Californians will make history with their actions or inactions. If voting integrity in California is important to you, please make your voice heard.
The Voting System Panel (VSP) hearing for the certification of an array of Diebold voting system wares will proceed, as follows:
Date: "Early Turkey Monday" November 21, 2005
Time: Meet in front of the Secretary of State's Building at 9:30 a.m. (Hearing begins at 10 a.m.)
Location: Secretary of State's Office, 1500 11th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
(Downtown Sacramento -- 11th and "O" Streets)
Please sign up to speak your mind about Diebold--for up to two minutes. While many are a bit intimidated by the prospect of speaking at a podium for even a minute, this is really no big deal. It's remarkably easy and it feels great to muster the courage to speak your mind and make a difference. How it usually works is that you may sign up for each of the agenda items (wares to be discussed), as itemized on the "agenda" listed below. Just sign up a few minutes before the hearing by walking to the front of the auditorium and filling out a card. Usually the card requests that you specify which agenda item you plan to speak on. So, again, see the list below for the alphabetical letter correlating to a specific Diebold product. Choose one even if you want to speak generally about Diebold. If this doesn't make sense to you, no worries. Just show up a few minutes early and ask someone there for assistance.
Tentative Agenda (subject to change without notice):
1. Diebold Election Systems
a. GEMS Software version 1.18.24
b. AccuVote-TSX with Accuview Printer Module (AVPM) hardware
c. AccuVote-TSX Ballot Station firmware version 4.6.4
d. AccuVote-OS (model D) with firmware version 1.96.6
e. AccuVote-OS Central County firmware version 2.0.12
f. Voter Card Encoder Version 4.6.1
g. Key Card Tool software version 4.6.1
h. VC Programmer software version 4.6.1
i. AccuFeed
And if you have read this far, you may also want to know
:
Why the hurry to certify and purchase?
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) mandates that federal funds be used before the end of the year. Failure to spend HAVA funds will not only cause states to risk losing their federal funding from this program--but also will also lead to an unwanted visit from the Department of Justice for their lack of timely compliance. Yet many argue that there are few, if any, good voting systems options yet on the market. Disabled groups have threatened to sue if equipment is not purchased this year, but when some disabled groups have received funding from the e-voting vendors they advocate, it's hard to know on whose behalf they are speaking.
[See, http://www.wired.com/... ]
Common Ground:
Election integrity activists and a NACO (National Association of Counties--a national organization of election officials)--agree that the HAVA deadline must be delayed. Please read the following letter from NACO addressed to Congress informing them of the untenable quandary they now face and why the HAVA deadline must be delayed:
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES
[a national election officials organization]
October 20, 2005
Dear Member of Congress:
Before you conclude the first session of the 109th Congress, county officials across the nation urge you to attend to a critical piece of unfinished business that will protect and preserve the integrity of our voting process:
Fix the implementation timeline for the Help America Vote Act.
Many counties across the nation will be unable to comply with provisions of that law that are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2006, because the federal government has failed to meet its own statutory deadlines for issuing standards for voting equipment - standards that have not been finished and to which no equipment has yet been tested or certified. In the absence of this certification, county officials can only gaze into a crystal ball [emphasis added] and make predictions about which equipment will eventually meet the federal standards in the face of spiraling costs and threatened lawsuits in federal court.
The Election Assistance Commission has recognized the impossibility of this situation and stated it best in their Annual Reports for 2003 and 2004: "The implications of these delays are likely to include continued problems with election equipment; other unresolved election administration issues such as voter verifiable paper audit; and the likely inability of States and local election jurisdictions to meet HAVA requirements by statutory deadlines" and "Perhaps the most serious implication of the delayed EAC startup is the impact it will have on State procurement of new election equipment and the ability of some States and local election jurisdictions to meet HAVA requirements by statutory deadlines."
We urge you to provide a temporary moratorium on federal agency enforcement of the deadlines in the Help America Vote Act. This will also send a message to the federal courts to give the states and counties breathing room to make wise decisions based on guidance from the EAC - as was the intent of HAVA.
County officials appreciate your attention to this urgent matter. If you have any questions, please ask your staff to contact Alysoun McLaughlin, Associate Legislative Director, at 202-942-4254 or amclaughlin@naco.org.
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* About the Voting Systems Panel (VSP): At the last hearing on June 19, 2005, attendees were informed of the new name of this panel, which had previously been known as the Voting Systems and Procedures Panel (VSPP), as well as the fact that this panel would no longer act in its former capacity as a voting systems advisor to the Secretary of State. Because state certification is contingent on a public hearing, many activists remain unclear as to whether this hearing set for November 21, 2005, will satisfy the state certification requirement.*
*Important Update: We've just learned now that the VSP has been completely disbanded. We're told that information explaining this will soon be posted on the Secretary of State's website under "voting systems" and then under "certification." The hearing on November 21, 2006, will be held before Bruce McDannold (who many already know as the sole public contact with Secretary of State's Office since Bruce McPherson took the helm as Secretary of State). The hearing's function will be to satisfy the State certification requirement of a public hearing. To date no word of any electeds will be present. Who then will be the witnesses of the public's testimony? It will be recorded and a court stenographer will take notes. Will anyone read the notes or listen to the recording? We have no guarantee. We are informed that there will be strict adherence to the "expert" testimony exemptions that permit testimony in excess of the two minute limit. No longer will experts be able to speak on topics that they are not expert in. Given this new advisory, it might be prudent to contact Bruce McDannold in advance of the hearing if you will wish to speak as an "expert." Here's his contact information:
Bruce McDannold
916- 657.2166
email: <bmcdanno@ss.ca.gov>
FAX 916-653.3214