URGENT ACTION TO PRESERVE OUR VOTING RIGHTS
I hadn't intended this to link to my local Congressional race, NY-11, but it does. But first, a reminder of what's at stake and what we ALL have to do. We have to stop the attempts to force eVote machines on NYC and instead support the cheaper, FAR more reliable PB/OS system.
Here is a recent article outlining the CRITICAL threat to our democracy the eVote machines pose. Please read it as background. Here are just a few excerpts:
The leap to hand over our elections to private companies was an irresponsible, knee-jerk travesty. Voting machines appeared virtually overnight and quickly changed democracy in America. They were readymade and purchased off the shelf without the preconceived specifications, policies and procedures that are usually inherent in government endeavors. Safeguards were an afterthought. Three primary companies have jockeyed for the bounty of billions of dollars counties have been budgeted through federal grants to buy electronic voting systems under provisions of the Help America Vote Act...
By 2004, electronic voting machines were deployed across the nation and questionable election results ensued in Ohio, New Mexico and Florida following the November presidential contest. The greatest discrepancies occurred in districts utilizing electronic machines, while counties using paper ballots tracked accurately according to exit polls. Election irregularities first appeared in Florida and 4 short years later, voting anomalies were happening in multiple states. The proliferation of electronic voting in America has caused election problems to spread across the country like a virus on the Internet.
Electronic voting systems are said to have more than 100 points of entry vulnerable to hacking and other mischief. Every connection in the process provides an opportunity to slip in a little bit of programming that executes a task before vanishing without a trace. One tampered election data cartridge out of the thousands can change everything.
The reason this can happen is because private companies claim proprietary control over the inner workings of the machines that register and tally our votes. Election officials, the public and independent parties are not allowed to test or inspect the software without authorization and limitations as set forth by the manufacturers...
Three companies count more than 80 percent of the votes in the United States. Even the optical scanners that read paper ballots utilize proprietary software that has proven to be vulnerable to hacking. No less than 5 of the highly placed programmers and builders of electronic voting equipment were convicted felons...
Principals in these 3 companies unilaterally contribute to, and otherwise support, the Republican Party. When election irregularities have been detected, they universally favor Republican candidates...
(emphases are mine)
I don't know about you, but this scares the crap out of me and it should scare EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN CITIZEN REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
What can we do in NYC? We can pass City Council Resolution 131, urging selection of PBOS. So here is what you have to do to save YOUR vote:
Just contact four Council members with the message that you do not trust the overpriced, unreliable and unverifiable DRE machines and INSIST on PB/OS machines.
Message from Wheresthepaper's Teresa:
PBOS voting systems have been used for 20 years - they are time-tested, reliable, cost less, and retain local public bipartisan control of elections. DREs have a history of failures during elections, cost overruns as high as 1000%, loss of votes cast in minority languages, and reporting more ballots than voters. DREs require privatization of elections because DREs use secret software -- our Board of Elections would have to turn over our elections to vendors because vendors are the only ones who know how to service and program their own equipment.
Who to call, fax, email, and send letters:
Sample letters you can cut and paste fan be found Here but your own words are better.
1./ Speaker of the City Council Christine Quinn: Please co-sponsor Resolution 131, and use the power of the Speaker's office to pass it ASAP. Speaker Christine Quinn, The Speaker's Office, City Hall, New York, NY 10007. Office (212) 788-7210, Fax (212) 788-7207, quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
2./ Chair of the Governmental Operations Committee, Simcha Felder: Please co-sponsor Resolution 131, and to use the power of your committee to pass it ASAP. Council Member Simcha Felder, 4424 16th Ave., Brooklyn NY 11204
Office (718) 853-2704, Fax (718) 853-3858, felder@council.nyc.ny.us
3. Lead Sponsor of Resolution 131 Charles Barron: Thank you for introducing Resolution 131. Please act to get it passed ASAP.
Council Member Charles Barron, City Hall, New York NY 10007
Office (718) 649-9495, Fax (718) 649-3111, barron@council.nyc.ny.us
4. Your Own Council Member: Please co-sponsor Resolution 131, and do everything in your power to get it passed ASAP. Find your Council Member here.
Always include your name, address and phone number.
Want us to send your letters for you?
Please send your name, address and phone to- admin@wheresthepaper.org
If the link doesn’t work, you may have to cut-and-paste this email address.
Your info will be used only to send letters on your behalf.
More info:
Where's the Paper
New York Verified Voting
Now we come to David Yassky. He is my City Councilman and he is running to be my Congressman. He has personally asked me to reconsider my support for Chris Owens and support him. On this issue, the comparison is not between Chris Owens and David Yassky, but between David Yassky and another candidate in the race: Yvette Clarke, also in the City Council and also running for the NY-11 Congressional Seat.
Here is a list of sponsors of Resolution 131, the Resolution to save our voting rights:
*Arroyo, Maria Del Carmen
*Baez, Maria
*Barron, Charles
*Clarke, Yvette D.
*Foster, Helen D.
*Gonzalez, Sara M.
*Jackson, Robert
*Martinez, Miguel
*Palma, Annabel
*Sanders, Jr., James
*Stewart, Kendall
Yvette Clarke is one of these co-sponsors. David Yassky is not.
Each time I have met Yassky or heard him speak in the context of the NY-11 campaign, he has emphasized his leadership. He has emphasized his leadership in helping Chuck Schumer write and get bills passed in the House of Representatives back in the Clinton Presidency. And he has emphasized his leadership in resolving the dispute on Willamsburg/Greenpoint development. This latter example is his stated shining moment in his leadership in the City Council. This is what he holds up as his accomplishment.
His past leadership is all well and good. But I want to know why David Yassky is not leading the fight right here and right now to preserve the integrity of NYC's vote. Why isn't he taking a LEADERSHIP stand on this issue and co-sponsoring Resolution 131? In this case, Yvette Clarke is one of the leaders and David Yassky is not. Mr. Yassky: this issue matters more than any other. If you aren't standing up for our voting rights now when you have the perfect opportunity, how can I trust you to stand up for them in Congress? Ms. Clarke is beating you on this one. She has already shown her leadership faster than you have. For that, she earns my respect.
Please, Mr. Yassky. Co-sponsor Resolution 131 and make it your primary focus of attention.
