It's all about transparency.FIGHT like hell for whatever transparency you can get. If you want a government of the people,by the people and for the people,then the PEOPLE,not the private companies and/or the election officials,need to be able to oversee their own elections to ensure self-governance. Even with the shitty,often-unobservable voting systems we use, there remain many opportunities to oversee the process. USE THEM!

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Welcome to OpEdNews, Brad. There's a lot riding on Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts for Sen. Ted Kennedy's replacement. It should have been a cakewalk for Martha Coakley. What's going on?

I'll leave the politics of the matter to those more closely involved in them. It's gonna be a tough slog this year for all Democrats, particularly in light of their "play it safe" positions on well, just about everything.

That said, on the eve of the important special election where their "filibuster-proof" majority hangs in the balance, my top concern is to make sure that the candidate who receives the most votes actually gets to WIN this time, and that the citizens of both MA and the U.S., know for a fact that that person has actually won!

That won't be easy given the easily hacked voting machines, sold and serviced by a private company with a criminal background, that will be used in the race. I detail all of that, and why both Democrats and Republicans (and even Independents) should be VERY concerned, in my report this week on all of this at the right-leaning Gouverneur Times: http://tr.im/KvUb

To their credit, since the debacle that occurred last November in the NY-23 special election, the GT, even though they come from a decidedly right-wing angle, have figured out what I've been shouting about for years: Problems and concerns with electronic voting are not a matter of Right and Left as much as they are matter of right and wrong!

So, here we are again. Those of us who have been warning about our vulnerable elections for years have been efficiently marginalized and discounted. And, We the People are no better off than we were before. What can we citizens do at this late date, and is anyone listening out there?

Well, I'd object to your assertion that "We the People are no better off than we were before." Yes, we still face the same, uphill struggles to make folks understand what's going on and what's at stake here. But the Election Integrity movement, as rag tag and under-funded and without central leadership as we are, has had great victories against the Goliath of the e-voting industry (and its enablers in public office).

A defeatist attitude accomplishes little. So, we keep doing our best to fight the good fight, and get the word out however possible.

The fact that the Gouverneur Times -- an extremely Right-leaning news outlet in Upstate New York -- now cares about these issues, and is more than happy to have me write as a contributor there, indicates the word is getting out, and there are potentially a huge number of previously-clueless folks who may be waking up here.

As I've discussed long ago, there are no "silver bullets." The fight for democracy takes place one day at a time, and one fight at a time. But we ARE winning. As maddeningly slow as it often seems.

"What can we citizens do?" Keep fighting. Keep standing up to bullies, by sharing the independently verifiable facts with them. That's what you do, that's what I do, every day. That's all we can do. But it DOES make a difference, I believe.

We also have no control over whether anyone is listening or not. But what's become clear is that as soon as a particular candidate feels their ox has been gored (pun intended) or when there is a particularly close or dubious race, the "paper trail" (also, pun intended) that folks like you and I have left behind over so many years becomes suddenly *extremely* valuable. And so, we keep laying that trail.

Okay, let me rephrase that. What can we do about the sketchy but very important race that will be happening next Tuesday in Massachusetts?

Well, for a start, pass that article around! (Here's the URL again: http://tr.im/KvUb) since knowledge is always our best weapon and, given our lack of a corporate media voice, it WILL be up to "We, the People", one forwarded email, Tweet, DIGG, REDDIT, etc. at a time! Yes, that stuff does make a difference! I can tell you for a fact that when folks DIGG, REDDIT, Tweet stories at The BRAD BLOG, the readership rises dramatically and exponentially!

As to the specifics on Tuesday in MA, again, the more that people understand what we're dealing with, and the specific vulnerabilities of the type of voting systems being used (and the private company with a criminal background, LHS Associates, that's involved in servicing the machines), the better. Beyond that, for those in MA, being armed with that knowledge AND showing up at precincts and town counting headquarters to oversee as much of the counting as is possible -- and not much is actually possible when dealing with e-voting -- the better. If they know you're watching, it makes it much more difficult for bad guys to try to get away with things.

And then finally, since I'm often asked, just days before an election "what can we citizens do?!," I'll re-remind that the election reform can't wait until the hours and days before an actual election. It needs to happen, for example, in preparation for the 2010 election cycle, RIGHT NOW. Folks need to contact their elected officials, demand transparency, learn what systems are used and what the vulnerabilities are, and how to best combat them.

I should add -- since I just got a note from someone involved with one of the MA campaigns -- that, when observing at the polls, it's very important to let officials AND THE PUBLIC know about irregularities such as broken seals on optical-scan memory cards, officials and employees touch and accessing those machines and those memory cards during elections. Bring video cameras and still cameras to the polls and document, document, document. You never know what you may end up seeing, that may offer a clue to how a procedure was violated that could affect an election.

It's all about transparency. Always has been. FIGHT like hell for whatever transparency you can get. If you want a government of the people, by the people and for the people, then the PEOPLE, not the private companies and/or the election officials, need to be able to oversee their own elections to ensure self-governance.

Even with the shitty, often-unobservable voting systems we use, there remain many opportunities to oversee the process. USE THEM! And thanks in advance for all the patriotic folks who do exactly that. We could use a few million more of you!

Thanks for talking with me, Brad. And keep up the good work. As you so rightly point out, election integrity and transparency are issues of concern each and every day, not just around election time. For many reasons, we will be sitting on the edge of our seats next Tuesday.

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.