CA Voting Systems & Procedures Meeting POSTPONED!

[Peace Patriot]

Just got word from Don Goldmacher. The March 17 meeting WILL NOT TAKE PLACE. The agenda has been postponed to April 21. (See the postponement notice after each agenda item, below.)

Here's the notice: http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vs.htm

VOTING SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES PANEL MEETING (POSTPONED) AGENDA LOCATION
Office of the Secretary of State 1500 11 th Street 1 st Floor – Auditorium Sacramento, California 95814
MEETING DATE AND TIME March 17, 2005 10:00 a.m.
Pursuant to Elections Code section 19204, notice is hereby given that the Voting Systems and Procedures Panel will meet on the above date to consider the following items:

1. Sequoia Voting Systems (Postponed; Tentatively Rescheduled to April 21, 2005)

a. EMS/AERO central tabulation software b. Optech 400-C optical scan system c. Optech Eagle optical scan system d. Optech Insight optical scan system

2. “Grandfathered” Voting Systems (Postponed; Tentatively Rescheduled to April 21, 2005) a. Datavote b. InkaVote c. Mark-A-Vote d. Optech Eagle e. Optech IV-C/400C

3. Federal Qualification Process Report (Postponed; Tentatively Rescheduled to April 21, 2005)

4. Other Business (Postponed; Tentatively Rescheduled to April 21, 2005)

ALL ITEMS MAY BE RE-ORDERED TO BE HEARD ON ANY DAY OF THE NOTICED MEETINGS. THE ORDER OF BUSINESS MAY BE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE. The VSPP encourages the public to submit written comments on agenda items. Persons wishing to address the VSPP at these meetings, including any matter that may be designated for public hearing, are asked to notify the VSPP Office (see telephone/e-mail numbers below). Comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the meeting to ensure their delivery to the VSPP members prior to the meeting. If you wish to provide information or present an oral statement at any meeting, please contact Michael Wagaman at [phone] or [email protected]. In all cases, the presiding officer reserves the right to impose time limits on presentations as may be necessary to ensure that the agenda is completed.

------

See these posts for past discussions, background...

JunkYardDogg (comprehensive background)
Calif Fight Against McCormack's Assault on Election Protection
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=336599&mesg_id=336599

Peace Patriot
DEADLINE for letters to Calif. Election Panel re: Diebold coup-Thurs. 3/10 (sample letters)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x341078

Peace Patriot
Urgent! New info on CA Voting Systems & Procedures Panel meeting (Mar. 17)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x341621

[Wilms]

1. Peace. What's your take on this...

All of what I've read said that McCormack was a Paper-less-DRE advocate.

Seems I've missed something...

It seems she's advocating InkaVote. And this InkaVote thing may be her invention. (Royalties, perhaps?) Don't know but add the word "designed" to the search string and you'll see some stuff.

more:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=336599&mesg_id=340204&page=

[Helga Scow Stern]

4. It does use GEMS central tabulator....

if that has anything to do with it.

[Wilms]

5. Good one.

I wondered if, because it is "supposed' to be an interim system, the idea is to wait out purchasing TouchScreens until there is opportunity to overturn Shelley's work.

That make sense?

[Peace Patriot]

7. My quick read on it is that it's a delaying tactic. She wants paperless..

...touchscreens, like all the most corrupt election systems in the nation, but couldn't get them under Shelley. (She had to defend Inkavote, because that's what L.A. was using--and she's the head of elections and chose it.)

As for her inventing InkaVote, I can't find info on that in any of your refs. Where did you find that?

[Wilms]

9. Here's a referrence

Not the one I saw at some point, but here's a referrence. It says that Conny's husband may have been the designer.

http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/May.2004/1006.html

"She has balked at using DREs on a large scale (showing some wisdom there) and came up with an interim solution, the Inkavote. Voting with Inkavote is a lot like voting with a punch card except you mark the cards instead of punching them. It's basically an opt scan system except that candidate names and such are not printed on the card.

Doug Cragoe (Doug lives in LA and is working on a video for us based on some tape from the demo) told me that it was Conny's husband that came up with the Inkavote idea. I think MIT helped some with the design.

She has spent some of her Measure 41 funds but I doubt she has spent any HAVA money. So, she's sitting on a pile of money (in excess of $100 million, I guess... she probably doesn't literally have it in the bank right now but that much should be available to her over the next couple of years) until the right technology comes along.

She's popular and a bit aloof."

[Helga Scow Stern]

10. Aha! That would make sense.

[Wilms]

11. Say more!

What do you think is going on?

[JunkYardDogg]

12. Yah, I contacted Doug Also

He told me the same thing

see the long Thread on this, I found a couple of postings by Hubby Austin McCormack on his dislike of "Paper Trails"

[The Doctor.]

2. I saw this part:

"The VSPP encourages the public to submit written comments on agenda items. Persons wishing to address the VSPP at these meetings, including any matter that may be designated for public hearing, are asked to notify the VSPP Office (see telephone/e-mail numbers below). Comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the meeting to ensure their delivery to the VSPP members prior to the meeting."

Shall I assume this means California residents only?

As for the postponement- Government business gets postponed all the time.
If it were a business it would lose all of it's clients, but that doesn't mean that this is anything insidious.

I would be interested to know just what or who was the reason for it however.

[Helga Scow Stern]

3. The reason it was postponed

was that none of the counties had submitted their complete Documnetation plan by the review deadline.

On edit: That was from the notice for the Voting Modernization Board, whose meeting was to be held on the same day.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Dr_eldritch, if you mean, can non-Californians submit letters to VSPP...

...and have them delivered to the VSPP members, there is no reason whatever that you can't do this. You might want to put in a little introductory sentence or two, explaining your interest.

Given what happened on 11/2/04, and its consequences everywhere in the U.S., we all have to be interested in, and try to influence, every state's election rules for the better. Apparently Conyers said yesterday that BushCons are going to kill election reform at the federal level. It is going to be a state by state struggle--as I've always felt. (No way BushCons will allow our right to vote to be restored!). So--with no federal reform coming--we have NO CHOICE but to be interested in other states' election reform, as well as our own. Can't impeach Bush or elect another president with clean elections in only a few states.

Now that I think of it, wouldn't it be interesting to develop "clean American elections" interest and lobbying groups in other nations--not just among the states here? Say, have an Irish voting rights group and a French group and a South African group. Hell, even an Iraqi group! I can't think of anyone in the world who has more of a stake in clean elections in the U.S. than Iraqis. And every time something comes up here--the Connie McCormack situation, for instance--flood legislators, and media, with letters from non-citizens saying how the stolen 2004 U.S. election affects them--war, fear, environment, global piracy, arms dealing, etc.--and how important it is to them that democracy be restored in the U.S. Or people who once admired U.S. democracy could say how it inspired them, or how their own government was positively affected by democracy here (I'm thinking of So. Africa; also the Marshall Plan in Europe after WWII).

[The Doctor.]

8. Thank you, will do. nt

[JunkYardDogg]

13. Doc- It's a Calif Matter, but as an interested party,

from out of State, who admires and respects the Election Protection position as established by the Integrity minded officials of California's VSPP, you would like to commend the SoS and the VSPP for their Election Protection accomplishments and you are following their actions to serve as a model for your state.
This could be a good letter for you to submit.