houston election contest update: story raises new questions in voter mgmt

[gmoses]

FIRST some snips:

While the power of new voting technology was attracting a nationwide convergence of suspicion in the vote count reported for Ohio's Cuyahoga County, the very same software system used to manage voter rolls there was being put to troubling new uses in Harris County, Texas where hardly a word was uttered in reply.

Yet the power of software to politically manage votes and voters is not simply the power to produce vote totals, it also lies in the power of information technology to "discipline and punish" voting populations with increasing speed and efficiency.

Thanks to the recent addition of VOTEC Election Management And Compliance System or VEMACS (the same software package used in Cuyahoga County and ten other states) the Voter Registrar of Harris County was able to deliver with unprecedented speed and precision a list of 167 suspected illegal voters shortly after Republican attorneys charged that Democratic voters had illegally stolen the election.

In the end, hyped-up Republican charges against Democratic voters were not supported by the evidence. But the report produced by the Registrar’s election software did enable an unprecedented invasion of voter privacy. Within a month following the release of the Registrar's report, about 150 voters had been served with subpoenas that demanded them to reveal their votes in the election contest. And about 110 voters eventually saw their votes deducted from the race. Was the interrogation of Houston voters in January the largest voter sweep in history? We hope so. Because the Harris County precedent warns us that where powerful software is available, there will be more voter sweeps to come.

http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=182

THAT WAS YESTERDAY'S story. Next week, I'd like to look at the new contract between the Secty of State and IBM to do voter registration statewide. I think we've learned enough from the Vo election contest to ask some critical questions about the power and use of "voter management technology."

QUESTION: any orgs already on this game that would make good sources?

thanks--gm

[plant-fan]

1. "Forced to reveal their vote" ???

There goes the secret ballot. And why should we believe them anyway ?

I for one would have more confidence in a non-secret ballot, with everyone's votes recorded in a permanent ledger. I know this is heresy, but it appears that the secrecy will be taken away if it favors the Republicans. Let's force everyone to play by the same rules.

[Wilms]

2. gmoses. Please consider posting this interesting and important story, here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203

[gmoses]

3. reposted by request (with link to CounterPunch and new editorial)

thanks for the suggestion, here's the new, improved repost. CounterPunch picked up the story today and I've started an editorial on the question of statewide voter reg...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x342995

[gmoses]

4. Georgia's Version of Andy Taylor also Pushing 'Voter Integrity' Issues

POSTED AT Tuesday 3/15 Election Fraud, Reform, & Updates Thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=344047&mesg_id=344047

March 15, 2005
Why Are Top Republicans Lawyers in Two States Suddenly Working on "Voter Integrity?"
The Fix-It Guys and Their Election Filters

By GREG MOSES

http://www.counterpunch.org/moses03152005.html

In light of our recent interest in the de-registration and criminalization of the voters of West Houston, news from Georgia comes timely. Last Friday, the Democratic Caucus of the Georgia Senate staged a symbolic walkout following that chamber's passage of a bill that would limit the kinds of ID that can be used to register and vote.

SNIP

The parallels between Texas and Georgia raise questions that can be asked of other states in turn. Are your top Republican lawyers hyping issues of registration integrity, raising specters of nefarious voters planning massive acts of fraud, playing up fears that have no basis in election facts, installing new filters into law that will make voting even less hospitable? And your local election activists? Are they so obsessed with issues of verified counts that they remain blind to all other issues in voting rights?

[sonias]

5. Greg are you working with TX Safe Voting?

There was a good coalition of people like ACLU, EFF who have some geek types in their mix as well as the legal stuff. If you don't know about them, you should send them some e-mail about your site. You've done a lot of work that ties in with their work. You have some software experts in that group that could help out.

Even though this web site doesn't seem very current, the work is continuing on the open meetings lawsuit that they filed on the Secretary of State. http://www.safevoting.org/

Adina Levin is one of the main contacts there. She's also part of EFF.
The Yahoo group they have on that link for TX Safe Voting for the Central TX E-vote group is very active.

Keep up the good work.

Sonia