Requiring the public to "trust" insiders is not a true democratic system; in fact, requiring the public to trust government insiders is a hallmark of communist and dictatorships which pretend to be democracies.
The public right to see, verify and authenticate all parts of public elections is an inalienable right, a human right. You can't have liberty without self-government; you don't have self-government if insiders are allowed to conceal essential parts of the election from the public. That is a subtle transfer of power, from the public to insiders.
The article I read about the D.C. reforms states that D.C. is a national leader in this area. Not yet. But you will be a national leader when you recognize, protect and reinstall public rights for all essential phases of your elections. We at Black Box Voting look forward to this, and hope to see you make strides in this area.
I hope you'll carefully consider public rights when implementing future reforms. In the mean time, please take the prudent step of halting the change to no-fault absentee voting.
Sincerely,
Bev Harris - Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K, PMB 547
Renton WA 98057
Footnotes contained in letter:
(1) North Jersey Conservative Examiner - Aug. 4, 2009, by Mark Impomeni: Campaign workers indicted in election fraud case; " "At least one of the defendants was in a position to impact elections on a regular basis. Gianine Narvaez worked in the office of the Essex County Superintendent of Elections."
(2) WJOB News - May 28, 2007: Lake County Ballots Accidentally Manipulated from Outside System - Lake County election officials say they were disturbed to learn a vendor had altered the status of dozens of absentee ballots after the election. Lake County Election Administrator Michelle Fajman says she was alarmed that the software allowed the vendor to add or remove voters. "The incident occurred May 15th, when an employee of Indianapolis-based Quest Information Systems changed the status of 58 Lake County absentee ballots cast in the May Eighth primary from rejected to accepted.
(3) Rocky Mountain News - Oct. 24, 2008, by Myung Oak Kim: 'Missing' Denver mail ballots were never sent by vendor - The U.S. Postal Service said Friday afternoon that its Denver mail processing facility received 10,364 ballots on Oct. 16 and delivered them within a couple days. But the California printing company hired by Denver Elections said it delivered 21,450 ballots to the postal facility on that date. The discrepancy prompted Denver Election Director Michael Scarpello to ask Sequoia Voting Systems to give him paperwork to prove that the Porterville, Calif., printing plant shipped the ballots. That advice bore out on Saturday, when Denver Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley said the ballots in question were never prepared by the vendor " "We take this matter very seriously and want Denver voters to know that no one will be disenfranchised by this vendor error."
(4) Sutter County Registrar of Voters - Oct. 16, 2008: Printer's Error On Vote-By-Mail Ballots In Sutter County - A printer's error has resulted in the printing and mailing of incomplete vote-by-mail ballots to approximately 14,000 Sutter County voters. Voters who received incorrect ballots are being asked to wait to vote until they receive new ballots in the mail.
(5) GAEA News - June 2, 2009, by Wayne Parry: Fears of ballot corruption arise - once again - in Atlantic City mayoral race - "absentee ballots designed for the ill and shut-ins have been flooding into Atlantic County election offices -- hundreds upon hundreds of them. [Note: Statistics - over 8% of votes "sick and shut in"]
