rare SOS public hearing - re Diebold - Austin - Thursday 3-23

[Zan_of_Texas]

To All Texas Voters Concerned about Electronic Voting:

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND GROUPS.....

The folllowing is an update about tomorrow's important Public Hearing at the Election Division of the Secretary of State's Office regarding the certification of the Diebold Voting System using GEMS Software 1.18.24:

What: Public Hearing to provide interested persons an opportunity to express their views for or against the approval of the Diebold Voting System GEMS Software 1.18.24 examined {by the Texas Voting Systems Examiners} on January 18-19, 2006.

{For a more thorough description of the Diebold System examined, go to http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/sysexam/0106bh.pdf which is an approval letter from one of the Election Examiners. The list of the various components examined is shown on the first page of this letter.}

Where: Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State, 208 East 10th Street, Jefferson Rusk Building, 2nd Floor Conference Room

When: 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Why: Apparently, when the public's right to attend the Examiners' tri-yearly certification meetings with the voting systems' vendors was rescinded last year, the Secretary of State agreed to hold separate open hearings soon after the Examiners' meeting. The hearing on March 23, 2006 is the first of these open hearings to be held.
{The Examiners' individual reports from their meeting of January 18-19, 2006 are posted at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/jan2006_diebold..shtml}

Meeting Details as described to me by Ms. Katie Morrissey of the Elections Division in the Secretary of State's Office:

1. The length of the hearing will be two hours.

2. The length of time allotted to each speaker will be determined by the number of speakers attending. Therefore, if there are 12 speakers, each one will be allowed 10 minutes; if 24 speakers, each will have 5 minutes, etc.

3. Written testimony from those persons unable to attend the hearing will be accepted: -by hand at the hearing,
-by e-mailing the testimony to [email protected] or
-by mailing to Katie Morrissey at the Texas Secretary of State, Elections Division, Thomas Jefferson Rusk Building, 208 East 10th Street, Austin, TX, 78711

4. Written public testimony needs to be received by ? (Confirm this date with Ms. Morrissey.)

5. There will be a sign-up sheet at the hearing and a copy of the sheet will be available upon request after the meeting.

6. Filming is allowed.

If you have any other questions, you can call 463-5650 and speak with either Katie Morrissey or Irene Diaz.

Please make every effort to come - you do not have to speak to attend, so just come! We need the Secretary of State to clearly understand that Texas voters have serious concerns about electronic voting machines because they are... More Complicated. More Expensive. And certainly...Not Secure.

Karen Renick
Director, VoteRescue
Austin, TX

[flamin lib]

1. go here to get contact info for all state officials

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=180x29084