More letters to the editor on election issues in a more compact, easy to read version. Read and respond. I invite your participation.

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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

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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!

A third and fourth possible involvement would be ask them to suggest
another audience, and hand out cards with newspaper editors contact info, ask the audience to jot down those main points on the easel sheet AND WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITORS (promoting the legislation and perhaps also encouraging more folks to see the video? I wish there were a 10 minute version, people just won't give up their favorite 'reality tv' show to see what's really happening!)

When we've exhausted avenues of our own to show the video, LET'S DONATE IT TO THE LOCAL LIBRARY so it continues to circulate.

And finally, anyone who has a website can be asked to pass the word via
their own site - to encourage the letter writing, promote the dvd, link to
the legislation, etc.

How else will we make a change?

Laura H. Blain
webweaver
Bradford County Alliance for Democracy (BCAD)
www.bcad.info

If you have time, check our site to see what else we are involved in, not
least of which is a federal case for church/state separation.

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Ready to jump into the fray? Do you have an election pet peeve that hasn?t been addressed? As long as you?re civil, your opinion is valued. Join this e-town hall forum today!

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.