I represented Clint Curtis, John Russell, and Frank Gonzalez in contesting their alleged losses in 2006 in Florida State court and in the U.S. House of Representatives. Our contest was instrumental in exerting the pressure to pass a paper ballots law in Florida which at least gives us something to count if someone can find an attorney who will file a lawsuit or a contest. However, these contests were dismissed WITHOUT any review of the evidence and contrary to the law as well as the rights of the candidates and voters to have the votes counted.
As a result, I am well aware of the election reform initiatives and the proposed solutions. The current Holt bill came out of the same House committee which ignored the law and refused to even allow us to present evidence showing that Florida’s election results were contradicted by affidavits of the voters. The Florida court dismissed these contests saying that a court action could not be maintained to count the votes even though the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that such an action could be maintained in state court in Roudebush v. Hartke, 405 U.S. 15, 18-27 (1972).
Furthermore, in Christine Jennings contest of her 2006 Florida election “defeat,” the State court refused to allow her experts to examine the source code. However, Florida law on trade secrets required the judge to allow her experts to examine the code under a protective order which would have only prevented them from disclosing the code, but would not have prevented them from commenting on whether or not it was set to dump or flip votes. Curiously, the judge did not dismiss this contest, but the Jennings contest did not seek a jury trial. However, we did seek a jury trial in our contests as allowed by the Florida Supreme Court decision in State ex. rel. Whitley v. Rinehart, 192 So.2d 819, 821 (1939).
Most importantly, the 2004 recount in Ohio was fixed. So, what good is a recount? If you can’t get to recount the votes in a lawsuit or in an election contest before Congress, and you can’t trust the bureaucrats who held the election, or threw it in the first place, to count or recount the votes accurately, how can you make sure that the votes are counted accurately? Those who are paying attention and truly want to preserve our democracy have realized that lawsuits and after the fact recounts or audits are a poor substitute for reliable election night counts. I hope that we can all agree on that important point.
You may be asking, “What does any of this have to do with the Holt bill?” Well, it has everything to do with it because the Holt bill does not fix elections unless you mean fixing them in the sense that we have experienced over the last few years. You heard that right! The Holt bill does not fix elections because it allows counting to continue in secret on computers which can be manipulated, and even worse, it makes the source code a secret protected under Federal law. In fact, Congressman Holt himself has said that it is no longer his bill, and Congressman Kucinich has urged other members of Congress not to pass it. One of the Holt bill’s advocates, who believes that doing something is better than doing nothing, even has a list of problems with the Holt bill which is 15 pages long. See http://electionmathematics.org/em-legislation/S1487Amendments.pdf
So, why would anyone want to support a bill that does not fully, easily, and inexpensively restore transparent elections by requiring voting to take place on paper ballots which are then counted in public? Are they interested in selling computers, in fixing elections, or do they just foolishly believe that doing something is better than doing what is best?
The question to you is, do you want to restore and preserve our democracy, or do you want to entrust it to those who would continue to use secret vote counting machines which are unreliable, expensive, and unnecessary? If you are for the Holt bill, think about your position and how easy it would be to restore and preserve our democracy with a bill mandating paper ballots and public vote counts. If you are for fair elections, spread the word like Paul Revere before Holt passes and the powers that be claim that they have “fixed” our elections. (Imagine Bush, Cheney, et al., smiling like the Grinch and laughing sinisterly every time they hear this repeated.)
Now, the obstacle is how to get this information out to the public before it is too late, Holt passes, and the mainstream media and the politicians tell everyone that the voting system has been “fixed.” Well, you can take a few minutes and take action now. It is that easy.
Please think about that, send this to your contacts, and do the right thing by calling, emailing, and faxing or mailing your Representatives with this simple message:
“I urge you to restore the use of paper ballots which are counted in public on election night in all Federal elections. I am very concerned about this serious issue, and I hope that you will take immediate action to protect democracy instead of undermining democracy. Please do not support the Holt bill, and instead, support Congressman Kucinich’s bill calling for hand counted paper ballots. Thank you.”
To find the contact information for your Congressional representatives: Go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ look for the box to write your elected officials and enter your zip code to find your them. Then, select compose your own message to your Federal officials, and send them an email with the subject “Stop Holt, Restore Public Vote Counting!”
Also, please tell Congressman Kucinich that you support his bill calling for hand counted paper ballots here http://action.dennis4president.com/contact-us/ This will allow him to track the support for his efforts.
Please realize that if your vote does not count, then you no longer have any power to influence your government!!! If you have no power to influence our government, you are no longer free, instead you are just a subject whose wishes, feelings, and life mean nothing to those in power. Please take action today to restore democracy and to prevent it from being taken away.
I represented Clint Curtis, John Russell, and Frank Gonzalez in contesting their alleged losses in 2006 in Florida State court and in the U.S. House of Representatives. Our contest was instrumental in exerting the pressure to
pass a paper ballots law in Florida which at least gives us something to count if someone can find an attorney who will file a lawsuit or a contest.
Mark Adams cuts to the chase. Nothing else matters if our elections are not honestly decided. The American public has a long history of fairly governing itself, but we have been robbed by the systematic takeover of our voting apparatus by right wing extremists. They have been steadily amassing power since the turn of the century despite the will of the electorate. That is why you see 75% of the country polling against the war even as Congress lets it continue forever.
It is absolutely imperative that this nation return to the hand counting of paper ballots for Federal races, unless we want to become just another dictatorship. As we sit now, there is no way to know who got the most votes in any race. There is no way to prove who the winner is. There are easy ways, however, to completely steal an election without anyone being the wiser. So, are we being ruled by vote count thieves? By criminals? Are we leaving a better world for our children?
Holt helps them continue to steal elections. Our most important goal is to defeat Holt. Then, we can work on hand counts.
Search for Nancy Tobi on this OpEd site if you would like to get copies of the New Hampshire Hand Count Handbook. This nifty little publication shows just how easy and inexpensive counting the vote by hand really is.
It is cheaper than buying any machines, and is self auditing.
by
GitarChris (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 106 comments)
on Saturday, September 22, 2007 at 4:02:19 AM
As usual, Mark Adams is a strong voice fighting to wake America up to the mass-scale election fraud being quietly perpetuated upon us.
I do not understand Kucinich’s delay in reintroducing the bill. I had heard several times that it would be. The frequent refrain of Holt supporters is that there is no better alternative present. Unless and until Kucinich (re)introduces a bill for hand-counted paper ballots, this is true.
I am also confused by the Jennings paragraph. What was the outcome of her efforts to seek the source code? Why didn’t she seek a jury trial?
by
steve freeman (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 11:25:41 AM
