(Lynn Landes) Voting Systems Lawsuit Reaches U.S. Supreme Court

[Wilms]

Press Release Source: Lynn Landes

Voting Systems Lawsuit Reaches U.S. Supreme Court

Monday January 30, 11:01 am ET

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A little-noticed voting rights lawsuit has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court (Docket No. 05-930). It constitutes the first legal challenge to the widespread use of nontransparent voting systems. Specifically, the lawsuit challenges the use of voting machines and absentee voting in elections for public office.

The lawsuit was originally filed by freelance journalist Lynn Landes in July of 2004 in Philadelphia federal court (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania). The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Landes on November 2, 2005.

In her lawsuit Landes claims that, as a voter and a journalist, she has the right to direct access to a physical ballot and to observe the voting process unimpeded. Voting by machine or absentee, Landes claims, introduces obstacles and concealment to a process that must be accessible and transparent in a meaningful and effective manner.

snip

"I tried to get civil rights organizations interested in this case, but had no luck. Their disregard for this issue is incredible. It's clear to me that without direct access to a physical ballot and meaningful transparency in the process, our elections have no integrity whatsoever," says Landes.

The defendants in the Landes lawsuit are Margaret Tartaglione, Chair of the City Commissioners of Philadelphia; Pedro A. Cortes, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States.

snip

Early American history seems to favor the Landes position. Prior to the Civil War, voting was a public and transparent process. It was only after the war, as the elective franchise expanded to minorities and women, three changes to state and federal election laws were adopted that eventually made the voting process a private and nontransparent enterprise: absentee voting was allowed (1870's), the Australian secret ballot method was adopted (1880's), and voting machines were permitted by Congress (1899).

snip

The defendants' response is due at the Supreme Court no later than February 24, 2006. The Landes lawsuit can be found at the following url: http://www.EcoTalk.org/lawsuit.doc.

snip

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060130/phm029.html?.v=38&printer=1

[stepnw1f]

1. Here We Go! (nt)

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Just in time

No wonder the Repugs were so desperate to get Alito on the bench.

[helderheid]

12. my thought exactly

[mainegreen]

3. Quit frankly lets hope she does not overturn absentee voting...

Most liberals I know vote absentee (myself included) due to work restrictions.

[Wilms]

9. I think absentee tends to lean right.

But I'd be open to a national holiday for voting.

[Botany]

4. Bush v Gore 2000

It is settled law.

might as well try to teach a poodle to speak russian

Thomas no
Alito no
Roberts no
Scalia no
Kennedy no

Welcome to nazi america

[Amaryllis]

8. That vision flashed before my eyes when I first learned about e-voting

in summer 2004 and the full implications hit me. Hopefully we can get far enough along on election reform before more justices are appointed that we can still save the day.

[shance]

5. This is why the nominees are so important.

Right here.

[Amaryllis]

6. Too bad she;'s thrown in absentee. People in the mililtary or out of the

country are supposed to just not vote? And it would do away with vote by mail, which works so well in OR, although we do have a physical ballot which we can drop off at BOE and can observe everything that happens except what the proprietary software does in the scanners once it's inserted into the scanner...

[galloglas]

10. The primary objective

is to get an honest, accountable vote. That accomplished, we can go in and back-fill to perfect things.

Which is more important?

1) To insure that one or more voters won't temporarily lose their franchise (because they are TDY, on vacation, or whatever) in an election that may be rigged, anyway, or

2) To make the system honest and transparent, so that we have a valid vote, and valid, reviewable count of those ballots which are cast.

[kster]

7. K&Recommended..nt

[shance]

11. Kick*

n/t

[MelissaB]

13. This didn't make it to the "greatest"?

:wtf: I'm sorry I didn't see this until now.

[FogerRox]

14. I just found it too-- please repost to maybe GD-- send us PMs

Repost & Send me/us all the link-- so we can recommend it-- this post needs to be jacked to the top of the page.

[Kurovski]

16. Same here.

I actually said "dammit" out loud when I saw that I missed it by minutes.

I agree that you should repost it, and if it doesn't make it to greatest, contact a few of us.

FogerRox has a good idea in putting it into General discussion.

[shance]

15. kick

n/t

[mirandapriestly]

17. She was on Ed Schultz today

but I missed most of it so I went and looked at her web page. I agree with the way she presents information so much because what she says is so uncomplicated and straightforward.(but yeah, absentee is a problem) She was talking about how this was just totally ignored by corporate media. Afterward a caller came on and said that BushCo told the msm after the election that if they said anything about the election being rigged or unquestionable they wouldn't get any info from WH. Does anyone remember that? The show ended and the lady couldn't finish. (Hmmm).

[garybeck]

18. kick