Diebold "Out" in Maryland....

[On Par]

At least by the House of Delegates...

"Diebold, the electronic voting machine maker, suffered another sharp setback recently, when Maryland's House of Delegates voted 137-to-0 to drop its machines and switch to paper ballots. The vote came in the same week that Texas held elections marred by electronic voting troubles. Maryland's State Senate should join the House in voting to discontinue the use of the Diebold machines, and other states should follow Maryland's lead."

Full Story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/opinion/23thu3.html?ex=1143867600&en=41c813e65161e920&ei=5070&emc=eta1

[MadMaddie]

1. Wow 137-0 that is amazing....

That is really good news!!!

[Greeby]

2. Woot

Go Maryland :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[On Par]

3. Let's "Kick and Recommend" it to Greatest

[PATRICK]

4. As things are shaping up

Enough states, especially former Diebold states switching off in time for 2006, will create the necessary contrast to suppress grand theft voting IF conjointly the screws are applied and the spotlight is on with true consequences. Added to that must be much more aggressive, in your face policing invulnerable states, never ever ever resting on the laurels of these state by state "victories" against the machine.

Before 2004 there never had been the momentum or traction to get beyond the paper trail argument, never a
united and pervasive aggressive policing or accountability campaign.

The media is just as piecemeal and disengaged as the Democratic Party and more inclined to drag its heels and spin away from making elections fair. the grass roots is winning this and the grass roots must carry the won territory into a nationwide battle.

When the first revelations about Diebold offered incontrovertible proof of its undesirability I was constantly on the alert for something that never showed up then, or before with Theft 2000. No matter the
"victories" the fraud advanced and the reformers were stymied, ignored, muffled and rendered moot for the next election. The jury is still out on the better situation now because the GOP, in physical installation terms is gaining more than losing in 2006 and the election this fall even in states that have seen the light, supposedly, is rapidly approaching.

The question is, are there enough victories in place to turn the fraud tide and catch the desperate arrogant cheating that MUST be applied by the GOP this year? I see no reason for giddy optimism yet. the real decisive battle will be this fall.

If the Dems dampen fraud challenging efforts and cannot face down the corrupt media blitz and WH schemes to scram the poll numbers and fix the polling counts are the voting activists going to be enough? And at the end of the day, will the mess of having only some states free of fraud allow the GOP to retain its minority and start outmaneuvering reform all over again? At least the dems should be united on this. The fact they are not puts the entire issue in serious doubt. Naked power still rules the growing truth.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. YEEEEE-HAW!!!!!!

My state does the right thing.

Of course, it was our Democratic legislature that got them here in the first place. :shrug:

[AuntiBush]

13. Didn't know

you were from MD, Husb2Sparkly. Always enjoy reading your postings.

[Stinky The Clown]

35. Yup .... in HoCo

[formernaderite]

20. I know....was pretty pissed when they hooked us up too

it's the same story in other states and counties too....alot of time, it was the dems who brought the machines in.

[On Par]

6. Where's The DU'ers from Maryland ? You Should Be Dancing

Better yet, you should be emailing your state senator.

[AuntiBush]

12. Just Logged-in When I Caught This

Dancing? Hell, I'm finding a watering hole tonight and I don't indulge but this calls for a celebration.

If it were not for DU, I'd never get the gut-news. Sinclair owns our local stations!

:kick:

[NastyRiffraff]

17. ::Throwing Confetti::

And I'm breaking out the good wine! Wheeeeeee! MY STATE!

:party: :toast: :bounce:

[mzmolly]

7. Diebold is about to DIE-fold.

Great news! 137-0 !!! WOW!

[sellitman]

8. Amazing! We might actually have a chance in 2006 if this keeps up.

:bounce:

[UrbScotty]

9. K&R for fair voting (nt)

[GOPFighter]

10. My neighbor is one of the leaders of this movement

He has worked relentlessly for the past couple of years to bring accountability to voting in Maryland.

Stan, if you're a DU member, I salute you!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[AuntiBush]

14. Tell Stan

this Marylander says "THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

:toast::bounce::toast:

[Roland99]

11. Bit of a reminder: How To Steal An Election

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/03/16/GR2006031600213.html

[AuntiBush]

15. Thanks for that reminder

In other words, don't break open the champagne bottles just yet.

Can you believe we care more about our gambling equipment being on the up-and-up, then we do our voting machines? I know I believe it.

[kiteinthewind]

16. Yes!!! Why can't we do this in Missouri?

:cry:

[Seedersandleechers]

21. I agree with you. Why can't we do this in Mo?

I feel utterly hopeless when senators need to be e-mailed with our concerns. With dickwad bond and no-talent I doubt it does any good.

[On Par]

18. I've Long Proposed 'One Machine" for The Entire U.S.

I have yet to understand why the Federal Government, doesn't have one machine, and one machine only, for voting in Federal elections?

That way, no matter where you lived, what precinct you voted in, or regardless of how many times you moved, you would be voting on the same machine as everyone else in the county.

To help pay for the machines, counties/states would pay a fee to use the machines, and help pay for the maintenance.

That way, the machine would be in compliance, there would be a VVPT, and would be monitored by an independent office of the Federal Gov't. And since Federal law supercedes State law, there wouldn't be any problem, and people like Kathyrn Harris, or Blackwell in Ohio wouldn't be able to control the elections in their state.

You could even have more than one manufacturer make them as long as they produce the same machine. So everyone could get a piece of the pie.

I don't get it. Someone needs to tell me why this is a stupid idea.

[Seedersandleechers]

22. I personally like the idea of the card that you pencil in-like

the way the old SAT tests were done. A machine can read them and you have the original

[Botany]

19. Outstanding

We will now have a "clean state" to compare results with vote and exit polls with dirty
states aka Ohio an it's HB 3 which codifies election theft.

[eppur_se_muova]

36. Nice to know that OH's good for something, even if a touchstone for fraud.

[Initech]

23. HA! There's another election that Diebold's machines cant rig!

:woohoo:

[Rainscents]

24. One by one...

Diebold is going away! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[sutz12]

25. Do you think 137-0 is enough to overcome a veto?

:sarcasm:

[Higans]

26. Ye ha.

[Tiggeroshii]

27. They said they did that already!

What the heck? And the governor kept saying he would sign it...

When is it gonna happen? In New Mexico it was really quick, but it seems like there's a lot of obstacles in the way for maryland for some reason...

[AtomicKitten]

28. a resounding bitchslap to fraud

[Eric J in MN]

29. Please donate to "TrueVote MD"

to help them get this though the Maryland Senate.

http://www.truevotemd.org/

[Up2Late]

30. Now how do we get MY state of Georgia, which is now ruled by a...

...Diebold selected House, Senate and Governor (and also Diebold selected U.S. Senators, and some U.S. House Reps.), How can we make this happen here?!?!

The only progress we have had here is a new Bill just pass that 3 Paper Printers in 3 different Counties (one each) in the 2006 election, with the "goal" to have printers for every Diebold Machine by 2008.

Can you say "foot dragging?":grr:

[Imagevision]

31. Now how do we get MY state of Florida to get back paper ballot voting?

umm...especially Florida!!

[rockymountaindem]

32. Great news n/t

[On Par]

33. It Relies With The Governor Of The State....

It was the Governor of Maryland, A Republican Governor at that, that knew Diebold was not only poor at counting votes, but saw a repair rate that increased election costs by 1000 percent !

[Higans]

34. So not only are they in-accurate, but the whole thing is a racket any way.

Figures don't lie, but liars will figure..

[singledot777]

37. Will you call Bev Harris a looney now?

Some here don't trust her knowledge and capacity.

[Kelvin Mace]

38. Huh? What did Bev have to do with this?

Local activists have been working on MD for years.

[0007]

39. We're on a roll!

[mdguss]

40. It was linked to college tuition:

This was attached by Gov. Ehrlich (R-Baltimore County) to a bill eliminating college tuition increases (which have been going up steadily at Maryland's public university's). It passed 137-0 because no one could vote against eliminating the college tuition increases. It would not have passed had it been voted on seperately. There's a lot of internal politics over the board of elections (which is still controlled by Democrats). It's a strange situation.

The President of the Senate (Mike Miller, D-PG County) is against this bill. He is protecting the administrator of the department of elections (a Democratic appointee). I doubt this bill will pass the Senate. But, if it does, Ehrlich will sign it.

[nickshepDEM]

41. Not in time for the midterms, though...