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California Secretary of State Dear Ms. Bowen: It is time to decertify these voting machines and implement hand-counted paper ballots (HCPBs), at the precinct on election night, before all who wish to observe. With California's Red Team reports and Florida State University's just-released report , voters are left with no basis for confidence in reported results. Elections should not be run on computerized voting systems which numerous studies assert are easily hacked. Neither optical scans nor touchscreen systems are impervious to attack - attacks which no one can prove occurred. You are in a unique position to lead the nation away from corporate control of our elections, and model the most secure, most accurate and least expensive voting system available to us: HCPBs. Democratic elections require an open vote count, which computers preclude. I urge you to decertify these machines, in light of ever-increasing number of reports by experts that computers cannot be made secure. Do the right thing for democracy. Respectfully, Rady Ananda J30 Coalition Columbus OH The above is how I sent the email, and I cc’d Ohio’s Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. I would also add, for clarification, the following: P.S. "Open source" technology in elections still obscures open vote counts, requiring experts to determine for the people how the results came out. Trust in experts, hired by politicians who gain their power from such elections, violates the checks and balances of a democracy. Those who insist citizens are incapable of honestly and accurately hand-counting a precinct's ballots have turned their back on democracy. We are all thrilled with California's Red Team reports, as well as Florida State University's recent report on the failure of Diebold optiscans, and UConn’s recent report, which contribute to the growing body of numerous studies that lead reasonable minds to conclude computers have no place in our elections, or in any elections purporting to be democratic. All software driven devices (SDDs) are vulnerable to being hacked; high tech systems are vastly more expensive than HCPBs and provide us with no basis for confidence in reported results. Elections belong to the people, not corporations or experts - We the People must be able to determine for ourselves election results. Let's rid our elections of SDDs. Democracy is something you do. Hand count paper ballots. Much thanks to Michael Richardson for the SDD idea.
http://re-mediaetc.blogspot.com/ In 2004, Rady Ananda began contributing to the Web, as part of the growing community of citizen journalists. Focusing mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexuality and racial equality, and environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews. All material offered here is the property of Rady Ananda, copyright 2006, 2007, 2008. Permission is granted to repost, with proper attribution including the original link.
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