83 Articles

Sunday, October 18, 2009
The Gasser
(33 comments) Getting involved in the democracy wars exposed me to the complex and often seamy realities behind the world occupied by our "public servants".

Saturday, September 26, 2009
The state-sanctioned Diebold monopoly control over NH's elections
(2 comments) Black Box Voting filed an antitrust complaint to the US Department of Justice requesting they investigate the proposed merger of e-voting companies Diebold and ES&S. Long before this merger, however, New Hampshire initiated its own antitrust situation with Diebold Corporation.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Counting our votes must be as open, secure, and accurate as counting our money: Tell Congress "NO" to the "Holt Bill"
(9 comments) We know it's time for action when congress wants to handle our ballots in ways we wouldn't handle our cash, even for a modest bank account. Tell your congressional reps you oppose HR 2894, the "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2009" (aka "The Holt Bill"). Then call or email every member on the House Science and Technology Committee

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Forget Iran, say NO to concealed vote counting in the US of A
(1 comments) Corporate media: decrying election fraud in Iran and promoting it here in America. The New York Times endorses Congressman Rush Holt's election reform bill, legislation designed to expand and nationalize privately controlled concealed computerized vote counting in our elections.

Friday, May 22, 2009
Secret vote counting and the lost art of democratic elections
(1 comments) Why has the Obama administration not pulled back the Bush legacy of disproportionate and dangerous executive power? Look no further than your local polling station for the answer.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
America Needs a Voting Rights Movement
(2 comments) In America today, nearly 90% of the nation's voters have their voting rights violated in just about every single election: local, state, and federal. To quote the popular bumper sticker: "If you're not outraged you're not paying attention." We need to restore basic voting rights in America and it will take all of us to do this.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
2009 Holt Bill. E-Voting: Making a bad system worse
(5 comments) The 2009 Holt "Voter Confidence" Bill must not pass. Holt's bill expands corporate control over our elections, usurps public authority and oversight, subverts election night vote counts, and allows for White House intervention in election results.

Saturday, February 14, 2009
Summary of the Stimulus bill - Don't look half bad to me
(12 comments) The mainstream media seems intent to obfuscate the facts, focusing on political games instead of what this huge spending and taxing package means to us. To me, when I look at what it is proposing to do, it don't look half bad.

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Help send Election Defense Alliance to Power Shift 09
Election Defense Alliance Legislative Coordinator, Nancy Tobi, is an invited speaker at the 2009 Power Shift gathering in Washington, DC. Nancy will join Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting, Rob Ritchie of FairVote, and other voting rights leaders, in this groundbreaking event merging the energies and power of the youth environmental movement with the passion and determination of the election integrity movement.

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Life in the Middle East: as told by a Christian Arab journalist and human rights activist
(6 comments) The story of life in Lebanon as told by a Christian Arab journalist, who survived the civil war perpetrated against her country by the PLO.

Thursday, January 15, 2009
Gaza -- Now for something completely different....
(6 comments) Here is an interesting video of Hamas television broadcasts to children.

Friday, December 5, 2008
New Hampshire elections: A call to improve integrity and accountability
An article from Humboldt County, California shows what happens when election officials work in friendly and cooperative collaboration with citizen watchdogs to protect democratic elections. Someday, we hope to be able to post a story like this about New Hampshire. Unfortunately, to this point, NH's response to citizen pressure has been both defensive and offensive (in every sense of the word).

Wednesday, November 5, 2008
What happens when We the People take back our elections
Let's hope that for a while now we can stop rushing around to put out election fraud fires and can now begin the real process of restoring democratic elections to our weary nation.We owe this much to every new voter who came out to vote, to every new citizen election watchdog who stepped up to the task, to every youth organizer whose vision for the future propelled us to this pivotal moment in our task.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
NH recounts no check and balance for its privatized corporate-controlled elections
(2 comments) Nearly 90% of NH votes are counted IN SECRET by a private corporation with a criminal history, criminal personnel, and partisan ties. This is in clear violation of the NH Constitution, which states that vote counting must be observable, and in violation of the concept of "non-delegable governmental functions. The State claims that privatizing the election night vote count is OK because NH has manual recounts. Balderdash.

Friday, April 11, 2008
The Myth of Verified Voting: How GOP strategists & J. Abramoff transformed America's elections & the reform movement
(4 comments) K Street's most influential project was the 2002 sweeping election reform known as the "Help America Vote Act" (HAVA)... HAVA was brilliantly subversive, spinning money into a sparkling, rich, complex and intricate golden gateway to perpetual election fraud....HAVA's most dangerous outcome was the creation of the myth of verified voting and the EAC, a White House agency with unprecedented power over the nation's elections...

Thursday, March 13, 2008
Believe it or not, this is the NH method of "securing" the vote
(3 comments) NH Diebold-lovers and voting machine apologists like to point to our paper ballot hand count recounts in order to rationalize outsourcing the counting of 80-90% of our votes to private corporate interests using secret vote-counting technologies. NH officials and legislators continuing to support and defend secret vote-counting should step down. They are violating the NH Constitution and their oath of office.

Monday, February 18, 2008
Video: NH Representative Betty Hall discusses her impeachment resolution
NH Rep Betty Hall has introduced a resolution for impeachment to the NH House. If the state legislature passes the resolution, by law the Congress must put it ON THE TABLE. Watch the amazing Betty on this video.

Monday, February 18, 2008
Author/Journalist John Nichols Discusses Impeachment
(1 comments) "The Founders desperately wanted us to know that we have the power to continue the Revolution....Impeachment is the embodiment of the spirit of the American Revolution." John Nichols explains the historical and Constitutional imperative for Congress to uphold their sworn duty and use the tool of impeachment to rein in the unprecedented power grab of the Bush presidency. View video of John Nichols talking about it.

Saturday, February 16, 2008
GOP candidate Albert Howard files recount appeal with NH Ballot Law Commission - "We are thankful to Mr. Gardner..."
GOP Candidate for President Albert Howard follows through and leads the fight for election integrity in New Hampshire.

Friday, February 8, 2008
New Hampshire Still Has One Good Thing Going For It
(8 comments) Yes, New Hampshire does still have one good thing going for it,and that is NH Representative Betty Hall, who has filed the most a$$-kickingest resolution for impeachment the nation has ever seen. On grounds for conspiring to remove our right to open and fair elections.

Saturday, January 19, 2008
Democracy that Works: Citizen Oversight, Checks and Balances, Hand Counts
(1 comments) The New Hampshire recount is revealing many significant flaws in ballot security in the Granite State. But New Hampshire knows how to conduct clean elections. View this video and see small town New Hampshire's own unique and indisputable method for securing the ballots.

Friday, January 11, 2008
We need to eliminate secret vote counting, not a recount
(15 comments) The problem before us is that we have outsourced the most precious thing in our democracy: the counting of our votes. And in New Hampshire, we have outsourced more than 80% of our votes to a private corporation counting those votes in secret, and, as it turns out, that private corporation has a convicted drug trafficker on its executive team to boot. A recount does not solve this problem.

Monday, January 7, 2008
NH: "First in the nation" (with corporate controlled secret vote counting)
(14 comments) 81% of New Hampshire's ballots are counted with secret vote counting software programmed by LHS Associates for Diebold optical scanners.

Sunday, January 6, 2008
Back to the Future: Democracy that Works
(3 comments) Our election systems are in trouble, which means our freedom is in trouble. There are lots of technological solutions suggested to "fix" the situation, but these won't do the trick. We need real democratic elections that meet the test for citizen oversight and checks and balances.

Monday, December 17, 2007
Hand Counted Paper Ballots are HAVA-compliant
(1 comments) "HCPB will bring electoral chaos" is typical propaganda,and if this is in your mind,you have somehow unwittingly assimilated it.Question your own assumptions.If you doubt what I am saying,watch the video of the NH Ballot Law Commission approving Diebold optical scanners last year.You will hear the exact phrase you are repeating:"if we don't approve the machines, we will have electoral chaos!"Video link here.See for yourself..

Thursday, November 1, 2007
Smashing secret vote counting in San Francisco, giving away the vote in New Hampshire
(6 comments)

Thursday, October 11, 2007
Pulling Up the Stone: Patriots at Work
This is a citizen patriots movement demanding real elections, using real paper ballots, counted by real people. Stone by stone, we are building an old fashioned stone wall of defense around our American Republic.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
11 state and local organization reject Holt Bill (HR811)
(7 comments) 11 state and local organization reject Holt Bill (HR811)

Sunday, September 9, 2007
Computer Security Expert Bruce O'Dell: Testimony to NH Legislature
(2 comments) Undetected widespread covert manipulation of computerized voting systems is the functional equivalent of invasion and occupation by a foreign power. In either case the people lose control of their own destinies, perhaps permanently. Undetected covert manipulation of voting systems could even be worse than mere invasion; the "electoral coup" would appear to occur with the illusion of the manufactured consent of the governed.

Saturday, September 8, 2007
Hands-on Elections: A complete handbook
(2 comments) Do you believe in secret vote counting? No? If instead, you believe votes ought to be cast in private but counted in public, this Handbook is for you. Download "Hands-on Elections: An Informational Handbook for Running Real Elections, Using Real Paper Ballots, Counted by Real People"

Friday, September 7, 2007
Action Alert! Fax the Rules Committee Today!
NY cut a deal with Holt.If Holt adds an amendment exempting NY from the bill's requirements so they can keep their old lever machines until 2010,NY delivers their votes to Holt for his bill.Let's inundate the Rules Committee with opposition.They already know the bill is in trouble with the public.Let's tell Slaughter and the rest that the NY amendment may be good for NY but bad for the country.We have a better idea

Wednesday, September 5, 2007
HR811: The Holt Bill in Congressman Holt's Own Words
Congressman Holt held a constituent town meeting in July 2007. These three short videos show how much the good Congressman doesn't seem to understand about everything that is wrong and dangerous in his election reform bill, HR811.

Sunday, September 2, 2007
MoveOn and HR811 (the Holt Bill)
(3 comments) MoveOn has a singular chance to redeem itself. Lend it a hand. Tell it NO TO HR811.

Friday, August 31, 2007
EAC for Dummies: How the White House has designs on your elections
(12 comments) What does it mean to the American Republic when the White House is the Designer-in-Chief of America's voting systems?

Friday, August 10, 2007
What are the odds that your vote will count? Watch Political Chowder on Sunday
Diebold optical scanners, the New Hampshire Constitution, and your vote in the Granite State. What's it all add up to? Great question! Watch Tobi and Twomey on Political Chowder this Sunday. We'll talk.

Monday, August 6, 2007
Time to review NH Ballot Law Commission approval of Diebold optical scanners
California's decision to decertify Diebold optical scanners must be applied to New Hampshire and the rest of the nation as well.

Saturday, July 28, 2007
California study reinforces need in the Granite State to rid ourselves of secret vote counting technology
(3 comments) Last week the California Secretary of State released a report on testing that she had ordered for the computerized voting machines used in California elections. The testing included Diebold optical scanners exactly like those used in 55% of our New Hampshire polling places. California's tests proved that the computerized voting equipment used in New Hampshire elections, and throughout the nation, have no place in

Friday, July 27, 2007
Why is Cong. Paul Hodes ignoring his constituents?
(1 comments) In stubborn defiance of key constituency groups in the Granite State,Congressman Paul Hodes continues to support controversial federal election reform that would turn NH's voting system on its head.The Voter Con Act would codify secret vote counting technology into federal law,forbidding anyone but those "qualified" by the WH to even look at the software counting our votes,and only then if they sign nondisclosure agreements...

Sunday, July 22, 2007
Voting Integrity Advocates and the Magic Lasso of Truth
(5 comments) Federal efforts at election reform have turned voting integrity advocates into one big collective Wonder Woman. As the Feds lob one complexity-laden bill after another, we hold our fists high, fearlessly deflecting each assault with our magic bracelets. But we can't beat this thing through deflection. It's time to tighten up our Wonder Bra, grab a hold of our golden lasso of truth, and let loose a hearty reckoning of reality.

Thursday, July 19, 2007
Crippling Cost of HR 811 Leaves States Exposed and Defenseless
(4 comments) HR811 is being sold as a "paper trail" bill.But Holt's Bill is an e-voting vendor's dream,cementing the use of high tech,low democracy equipment in our elections,protecting the "rights" of private corporate interests to "count" our votes using proprietary,trade secret software,so only they and the White House know how or if our votes are being counted,at a crippling cost to our cities and towns.Is that what you really want?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Crippling Cost of HR 811 Leaves States Exposed and Defenseless
HR811 is being sold as a "paper trail" bill.But Holt's Bill is an e-voting vendor's dream,cementing the use of high tech,low democracy equipment in our elections,protecting the "rights" of private corporate interests to "count" our votes using proprietary,trade secret software,so only they and the White House know how or if our votes are being counted,at a crippling cost to our cities and towns.Is that what you really want?

Friday, July 13, 2007
Crippling Costs of HR 811 Leave States Exposed and Defenseless
(3 comments) HR811 is being sold as a "paper trail" bill.But Holt's Bill is an e-voting vendor's dream,cementing the use of high tech,low democracy equipment in our elections,protecting the "rights" of private corporate interests to "count" our votes using proprietary,trade secret software,so only they and the White House know how or if our votes are being counted,at a crippling cost to our cities and towns.Is this what you really want?

Friday, June 29, 2007
Chicken Little: The Holt Bill and What it Will Do to the New Hampshire Heavens
(2 comments) Am I Chicken Little or is the sky really falling? Read about it. You be the judge.

Friday, June 29, 2007
Congress about to "Just say yes" to Permanent Secret Vote Counting
(4 comments) Congress is about to pass an election "reform" bill, HR811 (the Holt Bill). The bill will enshrine secret computerized vote counting, controlled by the White House. The Holt bill would tempt the likes of the late Mayor Daley of Chicago and vote villain Boss Tweed of New York City's Tammany Hall. How will our modern vote villains resist? We follow the money to see the who and the why behind those pushing for the bill's passage.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007
NH Secretary Gardner on Voice of the Voters
New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner and Assistant Secretary of State Anthony Stevens discuss democracy on this radio podcast.

Thursday, June 21, 2007
HR 811 (The Holt Bill) and The Commission: Alien invaders in our democracy
(4 comments) Centralizing the power to control votes and determine who controls our country is more a form of national socialism than democracy. This is what The Commission does. We need to abolish this alien creature from our government.

Monday, June 11, 2007
Kucinich announces withdrawal of support for Holt Bill
(1 comments) Congressman Dennis Kucinich announces support for election integrity and opposition for HR 811 at national activist gathering in Bedford, New Hampshire.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007
HR 811 (The Holt Bill): Time to put us out of its misery
(6 comments) HR 811 has a long and controversial history. Embraced primarily by well funded lobbyists, the general citizenry, election officials, and activists oppose the bill. In the ultimate bait and switch, all carrots dangled in front of activists have been eaten up: full software disclosure is now full nondisclosure. Implementation on key aspects is moved from 2008 to 2010. Let's kill this thing and put us all out of its misery.

Monday, May 28, 2007
HR 811 (The Holt Bill): Let the debate begin
(3 comments) Proposed federal election reform legislation, HR 811 (aka the Holt Bill) stands to impose dramatic and dangerous changes to our country. Opponents of the bill challenge its proponents to public debate on its merits.

Saturday, May 26, 2007
White House Agency Takes Aim at Paper Ballots
(6 comments) The national commissioners of the count, the EAC, are expanding their control over the nation's elections, now moving to control paper ballots. Does the citizenry consent?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
The Real Threat from the Holt Bill as Written
(5 comments) The real threat from the Holt Bill as written is that it presents infinite opportunities for litigation challenges and judicial resolution rather than citizen determination our election results and outcomes. Now for all you activists jumping with glee over the opportunity to sue the pants off your corrupt state and local election officials, bear one single thought in mind: Florida 2000.

Monday, May 21, 2007
The Neighborhood Penny Candy Shop and Why Holt (HR 811) Needs To be Fixed or Discarded
Nancy uses the neighborhood penny candy shop to show how the new requirements of HR 811 will affect your state."But pretty soon you figure out that you are flat broke, that nobody will work in your shop anymore because the requirements are too burdensome and complicated, and you have to shut the whole thing down.This is the incrementalism in bills like HR 811: an incremental path to completely BREAKING OUR ELECTION SYSTEMS."

Friday, April 27, 2007
Rebuttal to Dill's support of the HR 811 Trojan Horse
(21 comments) Dr. Dill's arguments in support of HR 811 fall apart from the moment he promotes an "it's this or nothing" position. Every argument he makes in support of the bill is easily deconstructed when we remember we are fighting for our American democracy and not the right for corporate technologists and computer expert elitists to run our elections. We did away with the literacy test as a right to vote a long time ago.

Monday, April 23, 2007
SAVE THE DATE: DEMFEST IN NH JUNE 9-10
All presidential primary candidates are invited to attend the event, and we expect that in the good NH tradition, DFest participants will be able to meet them on the "streets" of the "Town of Democracy" where DFest is taking place.

Saturday, April 14, 2007
The EAC Gopher Bash
(2 comments) Just like a Gopher Bash, with a permanent EAC, technovoting requirements can keep coming back to haunt you. You can knock down as many gophers as you want, but the EAC can keep making them pop up again. And the gophers will have ruined your country. Game Over.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
End secret vote counts - a story for everyone
(2 comments) The moral of this story: Most of our election workers are good patriotic Americans. And with respect to hand counting as the best democratic practice: as my good friend likes to say "Anyone can come to Democracy." We just need to open the door.

Thursday, April 12, 2007
End secret vote counts - a story for everyone
(2 comments) The moral of this story: Most of our election workers are good patriotic Americans. And with respect to hand counting as the best democratic practice: as my good friend likes to say "Anyone can come to Democracy." We just need to open the door.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Urgent call to FAX Congressional Reps and House Admin Ctte on election reform fast tracking
(15 comments) The Democratic majority is leading a misguided push to ram through sweeping election reform. If they are successful, we will not even recognize our own democracy. Take action now!

Monday, March 19, 2007
Ohio's Secretary of State Brunner Sets Model for the Nation
Newly elected Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner shows the nation we can clean out corruption and create election integrity.

Sunday, March 18, 2007
Podcast interview: Illegal voting equipment in 2008 Elections
Learn why the majority of states in the nation are at risk of running the 2008 elections on illegal voting equipment.

Saturday, March 17, 2007
Why the EAC Must Be Abolished
Many legislative proposals seek to make permanent the Election Assistance Commission. This is a dangerous idea. The democratic processes of the American Republic are based on decentralized power. Centralized power led to the American Revolution. Centralized power is the antithesis to a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Voting Machine Certification a Giant Ponzi Scheme
(1 comments) Taxpayers and elections officials certainly did not realize in 2002 when HAVA was used to mandate the purchase of billions of dollars in new voting equipment that this was just the initial investment in what would become a continuing hemorrhage. (Editor's note: the ultimate 'con')

Wednesday, February 7, 2007
New Version of Holt Bill: A Giant Step Backwards
You can keep arguing the merits of this audit method or that, this paper trail or that, but the Holt Bill has two poison pills in it that can not be argued away: 1) huge unfunded mandate for text-to-audio conversion technology 2) consolidation of Executive power and control over Federal elections.

Friday, January 5, 2007
Why I Support the Request by Voters to Amend the Holt Bill
Why the author of the articles titled "What's Wrong with the Holt Bill" and "Stopping Holt Because There is No Compromising on Democracy" is asking people to sign a letter requesting Congress to PASS THE HOLT BILL with amendments.

Thursday, January 4, 2007
Dear American Patriot-Online Form to Sign Letter to Congress
Since launching our campaign to amend the Holt Bill on December 29th, we have received tremendous response from citizens all around the nation. We now have an online form to sign our letter to Congress.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007
NH Primary: Grassroots Democracy in Action
New Hampshire is First in the Nation because the State invented the Primary more than 75 years ago as a way to bring grassroots democracy into a process that was determined by Party leaders. The Democratic Party's attempts to usurp the NH grassroots democratic Primary, where anyone with $1,000 can run for President and have a real chance in a real democratic election to get somewhere, is just a power grab by the Party.

Monday, January 1, 2007
Campaign for democratic elections catches fire nationwide
(1 comments) There is a new campaign to restore democratic elections to the American Republic. Read about it, and sign up!

Friday, December 29, 2006
Dear American Patriot: Amending the Holt Bill
(1 comments) The new Democratic majority is poised to swiftly enact election reform legislation. Let's hold them accountable and demand GOOD legislation to restore transparent democratic elections with full citizen oversight.

Friday, December 29, 2006
Request by Voters for Rational Election Reform Legislation
(2 comments) The Request by Voters documents the problems with our national voting systems and proposes rational remedies and recommendations to restore democratic elections to the nation.

Friday, December 29, 2006
Election Reform: Grow it from the grassroots
A history of national election reform legislation shows how easy it is for federal legislation to screw up the nation's election systems.

Friday, December 29, 2006
Patriot's Day: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
A punlic meeting with local and state election officials shines the light on what community-based elections are all about.

Friday, November 24, 2006
Tales from the 2006 New Hampshire Recount
These days, we hear so much about flaws in our voting systems. The letter below from Steve Spratt, candidate for NH House, about the recount process, is very heartening. On election night, he lost to fellow Democrat Shirl Garhart by four votes. After the recount, they tied!

Thursday, November 23, 2006
Dreaming of Democracy
(2 comments) I've been studying, analyzing, and writing about H.R. 550 for a year now, and the truth behind this piece of legislation remains just outside my grasp. I have always experienced 550 as some sort of tangible entity, like the Monolith in that Kubrick film, "2001, a Space Odyssey". 550 has an energy swirling around it, wrapping it in a hum and a noise that is palpable but elusive. It is not good energy.

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Stopping H.R. 550 Because We Can't Compromise on Democracy
(7 comments) The premise of HAVA, that public oversight of elections can be outsourced to corporate interests with secret vote counting technology, is dangerous to American democracy. We need a moratorium on new legislation; an accounting of HAVA monies spent, on what, to whom, and to what end; and a recovery plan from the HAVA disaster. We the People reject compromise legislation like H.R. 550, because there is no compromise on democracy.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Democrats in Congress and national election reform
(1 comments) With a new Democrat majority in Congress, the rush for election reform at the national level is in full swing. But fools rush in where wise men don't tread.

Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Four unbelievable stories from Election 2006 in the Granite State (NH)

Monday, November 6, 2006
To would-be election tamperers in New Hampshire: Back off! We are watching!
Democracy works with citizen oversight, checks and balances, and free and fair elections where the votes are sorted and counted in open meeting. You have no idea which towns and which races will be counted by hand on election night. You might as well just back off New Hampshire. We are running clean elections here.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
The EAC Certification Ponzi Scheme
Analysis of the Election Assistance Commission's Voting Equipment Certification Program.

Monday, September 25, 2006
Voter intent: Granite State bedrock for election integrity
Across the nation,electronic voting advocates and apologists continue to propose one solution after another to deal with the mess caused by the proliferation of electronic voting machines.But with these solutions they only further complicate things unnecessarily.They could look to the Granite State;they'd learn a lot about the value of voter intent and the honor and integrity that it brings to the way we count our votes.

Monday, September 25, 2006
"We're Counting the Vote" Kit and the Rule of Law
What is needed is for the citizens of the American Republic to take back our country town by town, city by city, and state by state. What is needed is a strengthening of the base of power that belongs to we the people. I hope that the We're Counting the Votes Kit is one small step in this direction.

Sunday, August 6, 2006
Amend or End HR 550
Here's why... and what you can do about it!

Friday, August 4, 2006
The Granite State Delivers Rock-Solid Information on Hand Counting
This article provides information about hand counting, links to videos and a Counting the Votes Toolkit, and an analysis from a recently released National Academies of Science groundbreaking report on elections.

Friday, August 4, 2006
The Granite State Delivers Rock-Solid Information on Hand Counting
This article provides information about hand counting, links to videos and a Counting the Votes Toolkit, and an analysis from a recently released National Academies of Science groundbreaking report on elections.