Here is another batch of comments on election issues. I’m trying to keep them to a comfortable length. It’s probably unrealistic to expect that busy people will sit down and read something over three pages. There’s more to come. The original article is here. The collections of comments can be found by going to writers’ archives and looking for my name: Joan Brunwasser. All of the titles of the collections have the word “Quandary” in them to make them easier to identify.
Joan Brunwasser, Voting Integrity Editor, OpEdNews.com
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I just checked my records. First time I heard about Joan Brunwasser and Invisible Ballots was in a rather long email she sent to several CASE members on December 17, 2005. She explained her concern about stolen elections and offered to send a loaner copy of a DVD that featured many of the leading activists in a professional production.
Since CASE, the Citizens' Alliance for Secure Elections, has something like 300 members through a yahoo group, it seemed an ideal way to help inform our members and others in Ohio. I requested a copy, and and within 10 days had viewed it and sent a note to the CASE list to advertise the video. I have been working these issues since early 2004 and this video helped put many things in perspective. It appeals well, even to an audience that knows nothing about election problems.
We had a few takers in CASE, not nearly as many as hoped for, but I kept advertising and gradually maybe half a dozen people saw it. It is still circulating but slowly.
The big break came when I attended a NLP (Natural Law Party) meeting. We in Ohio seem to be about the last of the NLP movement in the US, but we persist, The few of us who are active are involved in many things from running for office, to election reform, to the peace movement and more. It was a good group to bring the DVD to because we used a part of that meeting to see most of the 60 minute version and several people wanted their own copies.
We requested a couple more copies from Joan to circulate among NLP members and then found that several people wanted their own copy, plus extras for others. Once an activist sees a good video like Invisible Ballots, they seem to immediately recognize it as an invaluable tool that can help them energize others. I just ordered 20 copies; 11 are already spoken for and I don't expect much difficulty in finding homes for the rest.
Sincerely,
Phil Fry Co-Founder CASE_OH
*** Thought you'd like to know that X’s son told me at the Seder that "I'm a Republican and I'm scared ****less of Diebold!"
LC, IL
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Invisible Ballots came in yesterday's mail. I watched it this morning. I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach and I have a splitting headache. I want to cry. It does NOT matter what side you are on on ANY issue; if our vote is lost, our democracy is lost, and I don't see enough people caring. I LIKE disagreement, I like the public discourse, I think the debate is healthy and brings us to a better place in the end. Invisible ballots will end the debate.
That said, I think we need more than "viewings" of this video. I think BEFORE HAND, we need to prepare postcards and address labels (to reps and senators), with a preprinted short message (like that in the epilogue of the movie, "Invisible ballots are a bad idea, VISIBLE ballots are the only way to guarantee the integrity of our vote and the future of our freedom"), and a request that they support the legislation already introduced to require the voter verified paper ballot. (at the federal level, HR 550, and at the state level, HB 2000 & SB 977. re: SB 977, Senator Madigan informed me "the prime sponsor of the bill asked that the bill be withdrawn fromCommittee consideration and it was agreed that the Committee will conduct a public hearing on the bill in the early part of this year. THE HEARING DATE HAS NOT YET BEEN DETERMINED BUT WE ARE PROCEEDING ACCORDINGLY." duh?)
I think IMMEDIATELY after the movie, the audience needs to be engaged in two ways: 1 - ASK FOR AN IMMEDIATE GUT REACTION - what were the most revealing, startling, and/or concerning things that you just learned? A facilitator should write those down on a large sheet of easel paper. 2 - offer the post cards and pens, ask them to add their own brief sentence or two to the pre-printed message, get them to sign, and LETS MAIL THEM!
Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which exists for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. We aim to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Electronic (computerized) voting systems are simply antithetical to democratic principles.
CER set up a lending library to achieve the widespread distribution of the DVD Invisible Ballots: A temptation for electronic vote fraud. Within eighteen months, the project had distributed over 3200 copies across the country and beyond. CER now concentrates on group showings, OpEd pieces, articles, reviews, interviews, discussion sessions, networking, conferences, anything that promotes awareness of this critical problem. Joan has been Voting Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005.
