READ THIS! It's excellent and it's important! And it's positive.

[Amaryllis]

This is really good! Guvworld started this thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x377275#377837
which isn't taking off a lot, so I asked him if I could start another thread on it. Peace Patriot did this with one of mine that wasn't taking off, gave it a new title, and off it went. Read this and read his thread also, which has some different and additional info.

This is EXCELLENT on framing the issue. In another thread he posted the idea that if we get stuck in debating who won and who lost, it's a trap, since the real issue is that the way our elections are currently set up, the outcome is inconclusive. If our elections truly reflected the will of the governed, we wouldn't be having debates about who "won" because we'd have a conclusive outcome! Classic Orwellian dilemna!

Saturday, April 23, 2005
Voter Confidence Resolution
NOTE: The Voter Confidence Resolution is intended for City Councils across America. As unified communities make this collective declaration, they call to question: Has the Consent of the Governed been withdrawn, YET? The resolution is a template that should be customized locally through bridge-building, consensus-seeking teach-ins. For more on the strategy and talking points, please see the new Guide to the Voter Confidence Resolution. (6/11/05)

* * *

(v6.1, LAST UPDATED: 5/14/05 5pm)

Whereas an election is a competition for the privilege of representing the people; and

Whereas each voter is entitled to cast a single ballot to record his or her preferences for representation; and

Whereas the records of individual votes are the basis for counting and potentially re-counting a collective total and declaring a winner; and

Whereas an election's outcome is a matter of public record, based on a finite collection of immutable smaller records; and

Whereas a properly functioning election system should produce unanimous agreement about the results indicated by a fixed set of unchanging records; and

Whereas recent U.S. federal elections have been conducted under conditions that have not produced unanimous agreement about the outcome; and

Whereas future U.S. federal elections cannot possibly produce unanimous agreement as long as any condition permits an inconclusive count or re-count of votes; and

Whereas inconclusive counts and re-counts have occurred during recent U.S. federal elections due in part to electronic voting devices that do not produce a paper record of votes to be re -counted if necessary; and

Whereas inconclusive results have also been caused by election machines losing data, producing negative vote totals, showing more votes than there are registered voters, and persistently and automatically swapping a voter's vote from his or her chosen candidate to an opponent; and

Whereas inconclusive results make it impossible to measure the will of the people in their preferences for representation; and

Whereas the Declaration of Independence refers to the Consent of the Governed as the self-evident truth from which Government derives "just Power";

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

Because inconclusive results, by definition, mean that the true outcome of an election cannot be known, there is no basis for confidence in the results reported from U.S. federal elections; and

Be it also resolved:

The following is a comprehensive election reform platform likely to ensure conclusive election results and create a basis for confidence in U.S. federal elections:

1) voting processes owned and operated entirely in the public domain, and
2) clean money laws to keep all corporate funds out of campaign financing, and
3) a voter verifed paper ballot for every vote cast and additional uniform standards determined by a non-partisan nationally recognized commission, and
4) declaring election day a national holiday, and
5) counting all votes publicly and locally in the presence of citizen witnesses and credentialed members of the media, and
6) equal time provisions to be restored by the media along with a measurable increase in local, public control of the airwaves, and
7) presidential debates containing a minimum of three candidates, run by a non-partisan commission comprised of representatives of publicly owned media outlets, and
8) preferential voting and proportional representation to replace the winner-take-all system for federal elections;

Be it further resolved:

When elections are conducted under conditions that prevent conclusive outcomes, the Consent of the Governed is not being sought. Absent this self-evident source of legitimacy, such Consent is not to be assumed or taken for granted.

***
Endorsements

David Cobb, 2004 Green Party Presidential Candidate
Voter Confidence Committee
Green Party of Humboldt County, CA

Submit your group's endorsement or the version of the resolution that your City Council is considering.

***

The permalink for the Voter Confidence Resolution is:
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com/2005/04/voter-confidence-resolution.html

The permalink for the Guide to the Voter Confidence Resolution is:
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com/2005/06/guide-to-voter-confidence- resolution.html

[downwitbush]

1. just right but too late...

if only this was there before bush stole the election in 2000...
(cry cry)

[Amaryllis]

2. Well we can keep them from stealing the next one.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Right! Exactly! Look to the future, to the long term battle ahead of...

...us. We are highly motivated, knowing what we know. We can do both things--spread the word about the facts of this last election, which will motivate others as well--especially the disenfranchised voters (the majority!)--and fight for the principles of election transparency, which all fair-minded Americans can agree on.

[starmaker]

4. No vote left unrecountable

Why can't we count?

Thanks for must read didn't open guvworld thread

[emlev]

5. kick

!

[Stevepol]

6. Kick!! n/t

[GuvWurld]

7. Kick (eom)

[Amaryllis]

8. kick

[GuvWurld]

9. Kick (eom)

[pauldp]

10. Kick it..nt

[helderheid]

11. excellent :)

[GuvWurld]

12. Look for the KICK ass press release in the other thread

not here, the other thread

[GuvWurld]

13. Kick (eom)