Monday, January 28, 2008
VCC Plans Poll-Watching Operation
The Voter Confidence Committee today announced intentions to organize Humboldt County poll watching during next Tuesday's California Primary Election. Within mere minutes of e-mailing the press release (shown in full at the bottom of this post) I received voice mail from Thadeus Greenson at the Eureka Times-Standard and Terri Klemetson from KMUD radio news.
I called back a short while later and had perhaps a 15 or 20 minute discussion with Greenson. His December 24 article was the subject of my most recently published opinion piece. We did swap one e-mail each at that time, but did not fully engage. Last week Greenson exchanged words with the VCC's Bob Olofson, who published this letter in Friday's T-S.
So with all this recent history, I was very pleased that Greenson had so many questions for me today, demonstrating curiosity about the most recent framing efforts by the VCC. Namely, let's talk about tangible numbers for a hand-count so the community can objectively judge the viability of this option, without regard for unsubstantiated opinions from elections officials.
I will even give Greenson a bonus point for asking about the December 12 letter hand delivered by Aryay Kalaki of the VCC to Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich requesting various public data. To this day, the request has not been met and no media have backed up our call for the information or mentioned the Registrar's unwillingness to comply. While I'm on the subject, I'm sorry to have to report that new Election Manager Kelly Sanders has also failed to meet a VCC request for information submitted first by voice mail last Thursday and then via e-mail on Friday. We are seeking information to help us plan the poll watching operation.
Meanwhile, when I called back KMUD's Klemetson I think it was our first conversation. She asked me for an appointment to speak by phone tomorrow to record an interview for tomorrow night's news. I really should have pushed to have her interview me then to appear on tonight's news so that discussion of the VCC poll-watching planning meeting could possibly bring out some people. But no, we'll talk at 9am tomorrow.
On thing not mentioned in the press release below is that the VCC website now has a page with an outline of what a poll-watcher should watch for.
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dave Berman, 707-845-3749 or info@VoterConfidenceCommittee.org
Election Watchdog Group Seeks Community Volunteers
January 28, 2008 – Humboldt election watchdog group the Voter Confidence Committee (VCC) will be organizing community volunteers for a poll-watching operation on Tuesday, February 5, the day of California's Presidential Primary Election. Those willing to help monitor the election can attend a VCC planning and training session this Tuesday, January 29, starting at 6pm at Old Town Coffee & Chocolates, 211 F Street in Eureka.
"The Voter Confidence Committee has repeatedly and clearly stated our concerns about privatized and secret vote counting," said VCC co-founder Dave Berman. "To the extent that we are able to see how our elections work, we believe the community has a responsibility to carefully watch what happens on Election Day."
Volunteers need not attend the training to participate and can obtain a list of things to watch for at the VCC website, www.VoterConfidenceCommittee.org. Even citizens not intending to participate are encouraged to contact the VCC with reports of anything unusual. A special Election Day hotline has been created at 707-633-4130, or via e-mail at integrity@VoterConfidenceCommittee.org.
The VCC will be coordinating activities on Election Night from a temporary base of operations at 332 Grotto Street in Eureka's Henderson Center. Members of the public are welcome to drop in.
Permalink:
http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2008/01/vcc-plans-poll-watching-operation.html
Labels: Aryay Kalaki, Bob Olofson, Carolyn Crnich, Eureka Times-Standard, Kelly Sanders, KMUD, poll-watching, press release, Terri Klemetson, Thadeus Greenson, Voter Confidence Committee
Thursday, December 13, 2007
MEDIA ADVISORY: VCC Renews Call For Release of Public Info
MEDIA ADVISORY: VCC Renews Call For Release of Public Info
Contact: Dave Berman, 707-845-3749 or info@VoterConfidenceCommittee.org
Election Watchdog Group Repeats Request For Details From Humboldt Registrar
12/13/07 - Humboldt County election watchdog group The Voter Confidence Committee (VCC) hereby makes public a letter hand-delivered to the office of the Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich on December 12, 2007. Many of the questions included were first posed to the Registrar in May 2007, just prior to the release of the VCC "Report on Election Conditions in Humboldt County, CA." More recently, this topic was discussed on the Peter B. Collins talk radio show with both members of the VCC and the Registrar. The information being sought will enable the public to determine the viability of the VCC's proposal to hand-count all ballots in Humboldt County elections. A formal copy of this letter is attached to this e-mail and a plain text version appears below.
The VCC Report is archived online here: http://tinyurl.com/29vhhu.
Listen to an .mp3 of the Registrar on the Peter B. Collins show here: http://tinyurl.com/2f9jdj.
# # #
The Voter Confidence Committee
PO Box 5131
Eureka, CA 95502
www.VoterConfidenceCommittee.org
December 12, 2007
Dear Carolyn Crnich, Humboldt Registrar of Voters:
As a follow up to participation on the Nov. 30 Peter B. Collins show and renewing our request for information that you agreed was reasonable when you met with members of the Voter Confidence Committee in May 2007, we respectfully submit the following questions:
1. What were all the costs associated with the use of Diebold optical scanners, the GEMS central tabulator, and the Hart InterCivic eSlate machines in the November 2006 election, including:
a. Depreciation
b. Storage
c. Repair
d. Software updates
e. Ballot printing
f. Ballot definition programming
g. Back-up systems
h. All staff time
i. Contingencies for power failure
j. Legal expenses (i.e. Holder v McPherson)
k. All other costs
2. What were the funding sources to cover the above costs, and who authorized those expenditures?
3. Regarding the 10% manual audit of the November 2006 election:
a. How many hand-counters were hired?
b. What was the collective total paid to those hand-counters?
c. How many total hours of counting were required?
d. How many total contests (cumulative individual voting opportunities) were counted across all ballots in the audit?
4. In the November 2006 election, countywide, how many total votes (not ballots) were counted by precinct-based optical scanners? How many precincts were used in Humboldt County for this election? How many ballots were cast either provisionally, absentee, or mail-in?
5. Regarding the upcoming February 5, 2008 presidential primary:
a. How many precincts and how many physical polling places (excluding mail-in only precincts) will there be in Humboldt County?
b. How many contests will be on the ballot?
We look forward to a prompt and timely written response, directed either to the address above or via e-mail to info@VoterConfidenceCommittee.org.
Sincerely,
Aryay Kalaki, for
The Voter Confidence Committee
CC: Peter B. Collins, Brad Friedman, Humboldt County Supervisors and all local governments, Eureka Reporter, Eureka Times-Standard, North Coast Journal, Arcata Eye, KHUM, KGOE, KSLG, KMUD; (Added after letter delivery: GreenFuse, HSU Lumberjack, Humboldt Sentinel)
Permalink:
http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2007/12/media-advisory-vcc-renews-call-for.html
Labels: Aryay Kalaki, Carolyn Crnich, hand-counting paper ballots, Peter B. Collins, Report on Election Conditions, Voter Confidence Committee
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Humboldt Registrar Explains Opposition to Hand-Counting Paper Ballots
In my recent report on Peter B. Collins' live Eureka broadcast, I mentioned that Humboldt Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich had phoned in unexpectedly during the final few minutes of the show. I didn't go into any detail about her comments but they are worthy of note. First, to hear the full show, click here. To hear just the excerpt with the Registrar, click here. The entire third hour features Brad Friedman from BradBlog.com, as well as Aryay Kalaki and me. You can drag your media player's slider 2/3 of the way if you want to queue that up.
Now, here are the Registrar's words that I think didn't sit right with people. Peter B. asked Carolyn to comment on the Voter Confidence Committee proposal for hand-counting paper ballots:CC: "Frankly, having 800 people handle our live ballots is not an appealing idea to me."
The process of hand counting has checks and double checks built into it. Four people have to agree on everything and additional citizens may be observing. There is less trust required with hand-counting than with trade-secret proprietary software.
PBC: "Because..."
CC: "Do you not think that opens a door to fraud, too? 800 people handing live paper ballots? I'm not saying its the wrong thing to do. I'm saying I think it is an excellent audit tool for the way we count ballots now or, or in the future on some other equipment perhaps but..."
PBC: "I would argue that in a group situation, the group would basically police itself. So you're not putting individuals in a room with ballots that they could tamper with, you're putting a group to count them"
CC: "Yes, and I don't know that group and you don't either, and, and, do you see my concern?"
That's just for starters. Notice how she says "opens a door to fraud, too?" She is acknowledging the manifest weaknesses in the security of electronic vote tabulation and attempting to say hand-counting would be at least as bad. I'll have to go looking around, but I know there are studies comparing "attack vectors," points within a vote counting system that may be vulnerable to tampering (perhaps my best researcher friend Rady Ananda will post a link in the WDNC comments?). It would be embarrassing to think anyone believes hand-counting has more security holes than any existing electronic vote counting system.
Now think of how community members likely feel, being told by a public official in a small rural community where people actually know each other, that counters would somehow be untrustworthy strangers as opposed to respected neighbors. This is bordering on incitement. In fact, it did move VCC members Ruth Hoke and George Hurlburt to submit the following letter published in Wednesday's Eureka Reporter, online as of two hours ago.http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=31390
# # #
County has the human power to hand-count ballots
12/4/2007
Dear Editor,
Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich astonished the audience of Peter B. Collins’ live radio broadcast from the Eureka Theater Friday evening by stating on the air that she would not trust 800 (registered voters) to count live ballots. This was during a conversation with Mr. Collins, well-known election integrity journalist Brad Friedman and Dave Berman of the local group Voter Confidence Committee. VCC members are gathering signatures to show there is enough human power to hand-count all ballots during Humboldt County elections.
Having met with Ms. Crnich on several occasions, our impression is that she is honorable and dedicated in her profession; therefore, we’d like to assume she made an off-the-cuff comment without forethought. But if the statement does reflect her real view, we must respond.
First, why would the ballots be more valuable or important than the voters who created them? Keep in mind that hand-counters must be registered voters. When we were hand-counters after the 2006 election, we both thought the security measures were reassuring and counters were competent and diligent.
Consider our judicial system, which uses ordinary citizens as jurors. They are expected to possess and exercise good judgment, not just an ability to count. The system has served us well for more than 200 years. Why is Ms. Crnich so resistant to counting by citizens? Does she think there aren’t enough people in the county who can count or follow directions? Or does she hold the belief that more technology is always better?
We hope she will call Peter B. Collins’ show on Dec. 14, as she promised, and address these issues in depth.
Ruth Hoke
George Hurlburt
Carlotta
Permalink:
http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2007/12/humboldt-registrar-explains-opposition.html
Labels: Aryay Kalaki, Brad Friedman, BradBlog.com, Carolyn Crnich, Eureka Reporter, George Hurlburt, hand-counting paper ballots, Peter B. Collins, Rady Ananda, Ruth Hoke, Voter Confidence Committee
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.
Permalink:
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
