McPherson WILL TRY TO CERTIFY DIEBOLD FOR 2006

[EFerrari]

See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x413258


My dear neighbor DUers: I'm still collecting facts -- like, when is he fixing to do that and does the plan include a recountable paper ballot?

Please, please, check this forum starting Monday night.

Please put your networks on "alert". I just sent two emails to the L.A. and SF Greens to be looking for an action. If you have a group of more than one, put THEM on alert. We will need them next week. :silly:

WE WILL NOT BECOME OHIO. WE FIGHT THIS BS! :nuke:

Please check in and let me know you are on board.

THEY ARE TRYING TO TAKE CALIFORIA. WE WON'T LET THEM.

:evilgrin:

[AndyTiedye]

1. NOOOOO OOOOO OOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO!

Is there any way to stop them?

[EFerrari]

2. I'm still trying to get a grip on when Bruce intends to do that.

For now: Andy, can you be on stand by, with you peeps?

This is INSANE. Diebold is being kicked out of other state but CA will certity them?

Over my dead body AND my bald headed grannie's

Stand by, please, and be ready to fall on Bruce like a ton of progressive bricks.

:hi:

[ToolTex]

5. I wouldn't want to be Diebold with Beth's bald headed granny

stirring the brew. Bad Karma for Diebold. Paper ballots! If god had meant computers to vote she would have given them ballot printers.

[EFerrari]

6. LOL!

:rofl:

PRINT THIS, DIEBOLD MENDIGOS!

[autorank]

3. What next. Jeff Dean for Secretary of State. Alert CA Democrat Legs.

They can stop anything. Are they aware yet? They should be. This is amazing. We control both chambers.

[EFerrari]

4. I've sent a notice to my Greens to put on their combat gear.

But I need more facts to mount a real offensive.

And, no offense, autorank, but Democrats seem so concerned about 2006, I don't expect much help from them.

Maybe I have a bad attitude, whatEVER.

WE have to stop this.

To mount a counter, I need to know 1) when does Bruce propose to certify and 2) will his plan include recountable votes.

Can you help me find that out?

/elbow

[autorank]

7. You want Diebold facts! PM me Sunday night. I'll have a ton of links.

Seriously and 'no offense' taken. Actually, you have an "offense" credit of 9 points left;)

[EFerrari]

9. LOL! Mostly, I need to know when Bruce intends to roll out

his certification -- so we can get our peeps out in advance.

/spelling

[autorank]

16. k, but I'll post them here in this thread. May be of some use;)

[xxqqqzme]

28. we might control the chmbers but

the dems are mimicing their fed counterparts - they approved mcpherson's apointment overwhelmingly...thrilled 2 have him in fact - such a moderate you know...all this ad=fter not one finger was lifted 2 support Shelley. When does his trial start anyway? Oh, yes, he was never INDICTED! but forced from office by inuendo.

[kster]

8. Kick-n-Recommended.nt

[EFerrari]

10. Thank you, kster.

Let's make them sweat bullets before we're done.

Motherfuckers. Not mine, they don't, and none of yours either.

:nuke:

[proud patriot]

11. Will do

:hi: We got to stop 'em

[nicknameless]

12. K&R for FIGHTING BACK!!!

Now is not the time to throw in the towel. We have mountains of evidence against these pigs.
How many sections of CA's election code is McPherson violating with this move? Unbelievable!

[GuvWurld]

13. K&R...Humboldt County Checking In

I'll have plenty to say at the GuvWurld Blog later tonight and through the weekend.

[caligirl]

14. I pulled this from Bowen's press release page.

Voting Machine Vendors Continue Boycott Of State Senate
2006/02/15

WHO:

Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach), Chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee

WHAT:

The Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee will examine how voting equipment is tested and certified for use in California.

WHEN:

Thursday, February 16, 2006, at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE:

Menlo Park City Council Chambers, 801 Laurel Street, Menlo Park. The hearing won’t be televised and at this moment we’re still working on a way for people to be able to listen to it over the Internet.

WHY:

The voting machines that Californians rely on to accurately record their votes are certified at the federal level by the one of the private Independent Testing Authorities (ITAs) and by the Secretary of State. However, that process has been criticized by some as being both incomplete and biased in favor of the voting machine vendors. The hearing is designed to look at those criticisms and, until the voting machine vendors, the ITAs, and the Secretary of State refused to appear, hear from those who think the current process is appropriate.

“There have been dozens, if not hundreds, of problems with electronic voting machines that have failed to record people’s votes accurately, which begs the question of how these machines are certified for use in the first place,” said Bowen. “The refusal of the ITAs and the voting machine vendors to show up at a Senate hearing to talk about the certification issues is unacceptable and it should be unacceptable to anyone who wants to ensure California has voting systems that are secure, reliable, and accurately tally people’s votes. I’m not sure what steps I’ll need to take to get the vendors, the ITAs, and the Secretary to appear before the committee, but I’m certainly looking at my options.”

The refusal by the voting machine vendors to show up marks the second straight week they have rebuffed the committee’s request to appear before it. Last week, they rejected a request from the committee to appear to discuss the concept of using open-source software in California’s voting machines.

Witnesses scheduled to testify before the committee include:

* Aviel Rubin, Professor of Computer Science and Technical Director, Information Security Institute, Johns Hopkins University

* Dan Wallach, Professor of Computer Science, Rice University

* David Dill, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University Founder of the Verified Voting Foundation and VerifiedVoting.org

* Peter Neumann, Principal Scientist Computer Science Lab, SRI International

* Sonia Arrison, Director, Technology Studies, Pacific Research Institute

* Freddie Oakley, Yolo County Clerk-Recorder

* Warren Slocum, San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

Contact: Evan Goldberg at [phone]

[roody]

15. diebold

Subject: BREAKING: McPherson certifies Diebold machines
Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 01:25:25 GMT Status: Normal
From: "Debra Bowen" <[email protected]> Save Address
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Ruth,

I have just learned that Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has conditionally certified the use of Diebold electronic voting machines in California's 2006 elections.

Secretary of State McPherson's release of bad news late on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend is a blatant attempt to prevent us from learning about this decision. We were in a similar position the Friday before Christmas last year when the AP ran a story disclosing voting problems from last November's special election. 

But, try as he might, Secretary of State McPherson is not going to succeed in burying this story from the people of California -- this is too critical an issue to go away quietly.

With the many problems that have plagued Diebold machines, as well as the complete lack of transparency into this certification process, McPherson's decision certainly does nothing to restore confidence in California's elections.

I'll have much more to say about this Diebold certification in the next few days, and I'll be inviting you to do your part as well, but for now I just wanted to share this information with you.

Thanks for your continued support. 

Have a happy and safe Presidents' Day weekend!
 
Sincerely,
 

Debra Bowen
California State Senator 

Visit DebraBowen.com | Contribute Today!

Paid for by Debra Bowen for Secretary of State
578 Washington Blvd. #409, Marina del Rey, CA 90292
(c) 2006 Debra Bowen for Secretary of State, ID #1271345

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. Another thread on McPherson certifying Diebold, based on a

SF Chron article:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x458237
thread title (2-17-06 GD): Well, it seems Rove & Republicans have succeeded-They now have California!
Comment/excerpt: Cites SF Chronicle article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/02/17/state/n175845S67.DTL “California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson gave conditional approval Friday for counties to use two voting machines produced by Diebold Election Systems that he had previously questioned.”

The thead you refer to in your OP is this one:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x413258
thread title (2-17-06 Election Reform): SHIT!!! Diebold to be certified in CA ... with yet-unstated conditions.
Comment/excerpt: Report from an email from CA State Senator Debra Bowen’s office “Apparently the SOS announced in a conference call with county elections officials today that he’s going to certify the Diebold machines for 2006 “with conditions,” but he didn’t lay out the conditions just yet.” Reply #10 has a link to the CA SOS’s press release: http://ss.ca.gov/executive/press_releases/2006/06_021.pdf

Might the press contact on the SOS's press release be able to get more information? I'm ignorant about such things, so pardon the dumb question.

[autorank]

18. here you go...it's official

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2117013&mesg_id=2117013

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. New activist thread in LBN on the Ohio-ization of CA and fighting it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2117013
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): 2-17-06: BREAKING: Calif. Sec. State certifies entire Diebold product line
Comment/excerpt: Excerpt: “…Citizens: Instructions are provided in this article. Red flag: Meet bull
THE RED FLAG: Today California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson certified Diebold's entire product line, including the TSx touchscreen machine with its "toilet paper roll" paper trail -- you know, the design that removes the privacy of your vote. He also approved the Diebold optical scan system, knowing it can be hacked, and he approved the Diebold GEMS system, knowing it can be hacked, and all accessories and accompaniments. The system was approved despite 100 percent public opposition and despite not having the ITA report back. (Welcome to Black Box America.)
YOU'RE THE BULL: It's time for you and everyone you know to make phone calls for subpoenas!....”

[nicknameless]

20. Bowen's statement about the re-certification at this link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=413375&mesg_id=413375

Check out all the law-breaking by this POS SoS.
Silverweb asks about AG Lockyer helping to stop this train wreck. Can't he do something?

[LWolf]

21. I will check in.

I know my former state will not take this one lying down. While you are organizing opposition, be sure to post, frequently, what those of us outside the state can do to support your efforts.

:kick:

[EFerrari]

22. Thank you so much for all the responses to this thread.

I will be checking over the weekend in the Elections forum and with the groups who send me email to see what the plan will be next week.

Bowen is coming out swinging!

:toast:

[cascadiance]

23. We have to have a plan here in San Diego to fight this by April 11th!

According to that press release, that's the date they are first rolling out this newly approved setup here for the special election for Duke Cunningham's slot here in the 50th district.

This will be where they will test "tweaking results". It seems ripe for it. There isn't any question that Francine Busby will probably be one of the top two finishers for a runoff, if there is one. She will probably be the only candidate that can get over a 50% majority, with a field of over 12 Republicans in this election and only one other Democrat. What is of question is whether she will get this majority, and who she would have to face in a runoff if she doesn't get the majority. Kind of similar to the July election for Donna Frye, you know the one someone got arrested for for trying to get too close to the vote tabulator terminal? If Donna had to face Steve Francis instead of Jerry Sanders, she likely would have won with crossover votes from Sanders camp. She wasn't going to get any of Francis's votes.

The same will apply for this election. Diebold could be use to keep her 49% or less of the vote AND make sure that amongst the 12 Republicans running for the second spot, they try to get another "Sanders-like" candidate that Busby will have a harde time taking away moderate Republican/Independent votes from. I'm sure they'll try to tweak those votes as well to make sure "the right guy" gets the second spot in addition to keeping her from winning it outright in April.

We need to have ways of setting up to guarantee this not to happen. We need to have more observors at each of the polling booths. Perhaps try to set up an even better "parallel" voting booth with independent organization verification, etc. of those polls, to ensure that our votes get counted.

We need to MAKE SURE that they don't try to pull the same B.S. in having the central tabulator too far away from election observors so that they can't effectively see what's going on on that machine like they did with the mayoral special election. Someone shouldn't have to get arrested to get to have a good view of the system.

Of course, the more we can protest and find ways to ward off this "certification" the better too. But we here need to plan for this as if it is going to happen NOW, if we're going to prevent this one from getting stolen from us!

What adds to this problem in this area is that the registrar of voters and county clerks, etc. are all Republicans here. That has created suspicions in past elections from our local Dem group leadership's point of view, and that will probably make it that much harder to work around any skullduggery they might have planned this time around too.

[EFerrari]

27. Let's start putting together logistical info:

Where are the offices of the Elections Board in your county? We may need to set up local demonstrations -- more effective imho than showing up in Sacto where the media can ignore us all in one place.

Let's keep thinking and talking through the weekend. Maybe we can have a Monday thread here to put our thoughts, plans together.

:bounce:

[redacted]

24. BIG KICK from Sonoma County

and Lynn Woolsey's district. Give us the right to vote fairly or we'll send all of our great wine overseas!

[redacted]

25. How ould they "certify" machines made by a bankrupt company?

Diebold could be out of business by the time of the election. If that happens, who's going to "service" and "maintain" the devices?

[EFerrari]

26. Oh, PLEASE DON'T DO THAT!

:rofl:

[xxqqqzme]

29. great discussion & links here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x459769#459769

[fooj]

30. let me know what I can do.

peace.

[EFerrari]

32. Some help here would be terrific:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=470392&mesg_id=470392

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

31. Why is a "Blue" state like CA unable to prevent/resist this?

[EFerrari]

34. Because the Thugs are on a mission. They set up our

Governor and ran the Grope; they used the media to smear our elected Dem Sec of State out of office and voila!, you have a crisis.

[EFerrari]

33. Tuesday STOP DIEBOLD GD Thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=470392&mesg_id=470392

Help me, Obi Wan, you're my only hope. :hi:

[roody]

35. kick