Saturday, December 01, 2007
An Excellent Day in the Humboldt Nation
Friday may have been the most fun day I've had since the last time Peter B. Collins broadcast live from Humboldt. This time the location was the Eureka Theater. The Voter Confidence Committee (VCC) had a table in the lobby featuring the items in our hand-count campaign tool kit, all of which is linked on our home page.
Kalaki, Ruth Hoke, Dave Berman
hand-count spreadsheet tool
on Peter's computer
During the third hour we talked about why the VCC is organizing on behalf of hand-counted paper ballots and how we are going about it. The VCC website now has a sign-up form which relieves some of the pressure for us to be doing outdoor tabling in adverse weather, so we were happy to get that message out, as well as soliciting the help of a webmaster.
We also talked about the hand-count cost estimator (.xls) and the diagram comparing the sequences for electronic vote counting and hand counting, both resources developed not only for our own local purpose but with sharing nationally in mind.
In the last few minutes of the show, Humboldt Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich called in, prompting Peter to forgo some comments from the live audience. In particular, it was really too bad that he didn't have time for Verbena who wanted to talk about Redwood Curtain CopWatch and the epidemic of citizens dying near police officers. Peter invited Carolyn to return to the show for a longer discussion and she said she would in the near future. I encouraged Peter to also make time in the near future to come back to Verbena.
There was a great energy all afternoon, and you can hear the crowd cheering at the start and end of the segments of the show. I mentioned on the air, for the first time, that we have already collected roughly 200 names of willing hand counters. In the next few days I'll get an actual count.
I also tried out a new talking point. We have roughly 80,000 registered voters in Humboldt County. We will need roughly 800 hand-counters to get the job done on election night. That means only 1% of registered voters are needed to participate. All of a sudden it sounds like a much lower bar to clear.
After the show I went to the Redwood Peace and Justice Center (RPJC) annual dinner at the Arcata Community Center. I attended last year at the Bayside Grange and I eagerly looked forward to the warm and wonderful vibes I encountered tonight. Peter even made the scene. We were seated together and discussed, among other things, the Project-Based Format, the radio talk show idea I've written about periodically for the past five years, most recently this past week. I told him I didn't expect to be able to pursue this fully until at least the spring. He said, when I'm ready, let him know and "I will conspire with you." Very encouraging.
Big thanks to Tom Pinto of our local 911 Truth group for treating me as his guest tonight. I also got to talk to several of my friends from Vets For Peace Chapter 56.
I didn't get any really great pix at the dinner, but here is a decent one of two men I admire. Peter is on the right, talking with Dave Meserve, board member of the RPJC and former Arcata City Councilmember. I'll always be grateful to Dave for casting one of the three votes in favor of the Council adopting the Voter Confidence Resolution.
'Twas an excellent day in the Humboldt Nation.
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http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2007/12/excellent-day-in-humboldt-nation.html
Labels: Aryay Kalaki, Brad Friedman, Carolyn Crnich, Dave Meserve, Peter B. Collins, Redwood Curtain Cop Watch, Redwood Peace and Justice Center, spreadsheet tool, Verbena, Voter Confidence Committee
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