Sunday, November 05, 2006

The Voter Confidence Committee Secures Greater Election Transparency For Humboldt County

On Thursday night we got a major announcement from Humboldt Registrar Carolyn Crnich in support of a 10% manual audit of Tuesday's election. Late Friday afternoon, County Elections Manager Lindsey McWilliams left a voice message for public interest attorney Daniel J. Kosmal stating that a memo would be sent to poll workers instructing them to post the precinct poll tapes outside their polling places in accordance with CA election code 19384. These announcements would be welcome news at any time but especially in these crazy final days prior to the "election." The following was just sent to the VCC e-mail announcement list.

Monday morning at 10am the Voter Confidence Committee of Humboldt County will hold a press conference in front of the County Courthouse in Eureka. We'd love to have your support if you can be there but what is more important is that you know about these items we'll be announcing...

1. With the support of Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich, Humboldt will likely expand its manual audit (hand recount) for double checking machine accuracy from 1% to 10%. While the VCC has hoped for a 100% hand count, the 10% audit has been our fall back position based on this paper from the Election Defense Alliance: http://electiondefensealliance.org/hr550auditflaws. Official confirmation of the expanded hand count will come Tuesday morning when we invite you to join us at 9am for the Board of Supervisors meeting, also at the County Courthouse. Let's make sure they are convinced that the community requires this degree of verification for our election results, that we are willing to do the work to count the ballots, and that the extra expense (~ $10k) is money well spent.

2. Just before Monday's press conference we will be confirming in writing a verbal message from Elections Manager Lindsey McWilliams stating that, in accordance with CA election code 19384, poll tapes will be posted outside each polling place immediately following the close of voting on Tuesday night. If we are unable to secure Lindsey's written commitment, our paperwork is all ready to go to court. Join us at the press conference to see which way it goes!

3. Our big volunteer project hinges on our ability to access the precinct vote totals that appear on these poll tapes. All citizens are encouraged to observe the poll closing procedures at their polling place at 8pm Tuesday night. Please visit our website at www.voterconfidencecommittee.org for a list of things to watch for. You can also let us know which polling place you'll be at, and when you've collected your info, you can also use our site to submit what you've learned. If you prefer, you can call in your report to our new hotline: 707-709-VOTE. Use that number if you observe anything improper throughout election day.

SUMMARY:
Mon 10am @ Courthouse - press conference
Tues 9am @ Courthouse - Supes meeting
Tues 8pm - monitor the closing of your polling place and contact the VCC with info

Listen to KGOE 1480 AM all night on election night for Peter B. Collins and Brad Friedman reporting on election problems in Humboldt and across the country. If necessary, the Voter Confidence Committee will provide real-time updates to organize a united community response.

The Voter Confidence Committee
www.voterconfidencecommittee.org

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Posted by Dave Berman - 8:35 PM | Permalink
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We Do Not Consent, Volume 1 (left) and Volume 2 (right), feature essays from Dave Berman's previous blogs, GuvWurld and We Do Not Consent, respectively. Click the covers for FREE e-book versions (.pdf). As of April 2010, paperbacks are temporarily out of print. Click here for the author's bio.

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"If in the future we have vital elections, the "no basis for confidence" formulation that GuvWurld is popularizing will have been a historically important development. This is true because by implicitly insisting on verification and checks and balances instead of faith or trust in elections officials or machines as a basis for legitimacy, it encourages healthy transparent elections. It’s also rare that a political formulation approaches scientific certainty, but this formulation is backed up by scientific principles that teach that if you can’t repeat something (such as an election) and verify it by independent means, it doesn’t exist within the realm of what science will accept as established or proven truth."

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"This is an important collection of essays with a strong unitary theme: if you can't prove that you were elected, we can't take you seriously as elected officials. Simple, logical, comprehensive. 'Management' (aka, the 'powers that be') needs to get the message. 'The machines' are not legitimizers, they're an artful dodge and a path to deception. We've had enough...and we most certainly DO NOT consent."

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