Pirates Plunder California-- Make 5 CALLS now to save it
by ms in la
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/19/134751/152

I'm sure by now you're aware that CA's Diebold buddy, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, has conditionally certified Diebold's entire line here-- hackable touch screens, hackable optical scanners, and extremely hackable GEMS tabulators-- despite 100% public opposition and numerous attacks proving the sytems' fatal flaws and insecurities. State Senator Debra Bowen (hopefully new SOS after Nov '06) is on the warpath along with Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting and others to try to prevent a total electoral landslide from occurring in California. The battle to keep the Golden State from going Rovian Red can be waged by the people if we act now.

Everything is at stake.

I am putting some very important phone numbers and emails here along with simple instructions for what we all need to do, Californian or not. We have 55 electoral votes, 7 Fighting Dems, and equal protection of all our votes at risk.

Don't let the Pirates win...We have everything to lose-- in this state and in the nation-- if we don't all take a few SIMPLE steps immediately. Especially Californians, but nearly every state is experiencing this conflict, with looming and random HAVA deadlines. The window is rapidly closing for November... It will NOT reopen.

Bev Harris has provided us with the most efficient, easiest strategies to counter the shoving of illegal and insecure systems down the electorate throats. She has spent years of effective research and discovery in the eye of this electronic storm, so we should defer to her expertise and with a NIKE like clarity--JUST DO IT. Her simple,
painless suggestions are broken down below.

It comes down to only FIVE calls, (or FIVE emails)

Give me one good excuse for not being able to make five calls....? On second thought-- don't. Just do it, please.

None of your contributions to your candidates -- or your hard work at grassroots level-- none of it will mean a damn thing if we cannot have the votes counted accurately.

NONE! Remember; It's your tax dollars that are paying for this equipment...

Background:

The Secretary of State's office has just released the UC Berkeley report which was used to inform their decision on the Diebold product line. Some relevant quotes from it:

"Harri Hursti's attack does work: Mr. Hursti's attack on the AV-OS (Optical scanner)is definitely real. He was indeed able to change the election results by doing nothing more than modifying the contents of a memory card. He needed no passwords, no cryptographic keys, and no access to any other part of the voting system, including the GEMS election management server."

...and:

"Interpreted code is contrary to standards: Interpreted code in general is prohibited by the 2002 FEC Voluntary Voting System Standards, and also by the successor standard, the EAC's Voluntary Voting System Guidelines due to take effect in two years. In order for the Diebold software architecture to be in compliance, it would
appear that either the AccuBasic language and interpreter have to be removed, or the standard will have to be changed.

California can only run software certified by the Federal ITA process, by state law. The "Berkeley team" is saying flat-out that such certification was NOT done
correctly, therefore the entire Diebold product line is illegal under state law."

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The Feb. 16 California Senate Elections Committee hearing on certification was hit with no-shows by ALL FOUR major vendors (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and Hart
Intercivic). Representatives from Wyle and Ciber testing labs also declined to appear. The Secretary of State's office is now "legally late" on a series of public records requests made by California Elections Committee Chairperson Debra Bowen.

Bowen has to get permission from the California Senate Rules Committee to have subpoenas issued.

Only three of these Senators below are needed to invoke port subpoenas.

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The Plan: CALL 5 SENATORS on CA Senate Rules Committee (see #s below)

You will be requesting Subpoenas on KEY WITNESSES -- on election industry and certification insiders who did not come forth on the 16th to testify under oath.

The Goal: Subpoena-induced sworn testimony from voting machine vendors and errant testing labs, voting machine examiners.

THIS IS EASY. YOU CAN DO IT. YOU MUST DO IT.

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FIRST

Here is your contact list for the Rules Committee, you need not be Californian: Urge support for subpoenas of election industry and certification insiders who didn't testify on the 16th.

IT'S ONLY 5 CALLS/ EMAILS

Senator Don Perata (Chair) D
(916) 651-4009
District office (510) 286-1333
Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov

Senator Jim Battin (Vice-Chair) R
(916) 651-4037
Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov

Senator Roy Ashburn R
(916) 651-4018
senator.ashburn@sen.ca.gov

Senator Debra Bowen D
EMAIL ONLY Debra@debrabowen.com - (Ms. Bowen is mounting this case and will be busy preparing, emails are welcomed-- See below*)

Senator Gilbert Cedillo D
(916) 651-4022

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SECOND- What to say:

Be concise, be polite, be professional. Here's your message: ask for "Rules Committee support for subpoenas of election industry and certification insiders who won't otherwise inform the Elections Committee as to what's going on".

The key people: Diebold head programmers, federal testing labs (Ciber, Wyle) that repeatedly certified these flawed systems, voting system examiners who took taxpayer money, spent hours on so-called "security exams" on systems your 12-year old sister can hack, then repeatedly recommended for certification.

This is about volume of calls logged, emails sent. Not only should YOU make calls, but this needs to go out to your list.

Polite, professional, short clear message, FIRM is what works. Your passion and conviction will speak volumes.

Once subpoenas go out, that will have nationwide impact. Never before have the key witnesses had to answer questions under oath in public. That will unravel the garment, and we are so close. Demonstrate that the citizenry of America wants those guys compelled to testify, with subpoena power, under oath. Per Bev Harris..."Perjury will follow". It's our best shot that is achievable before the critical Nov. elections.

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THIRD - if you want to do more:

Suggestions from Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org-


Next comes gathering evidence in the form of public records. I'll work with any who volunteer to send customized public records request letters, will help
you learn the ropes, will suggest some really juicy stuff to ask for. This year, it is all about mentoring individuals to regain their power as citizens. Just one
person can make a difference.

But you need evidence, and records requests are the best way to get it. For the power of a single records request by a single individual, look at what Joan Quinn achieved in the article called "Voting machine examiners chickening out" on our home page, I think it's the third article down on www.blackboxvoting.org.


* UPDATE: State Senator Debra Bowen, working feverishly on the forefront of election integrity, wrote me last night to request that we email her offices rather than call. Her words:

"Email is great because it is easy for us to log and report -- and we can actually prove how many emails we've received!"

"We are going to need an enormous amount of people power in the next couple of weeks. Together we can change this whole pathetic mess. Let's stand up for our democracy RIGHT NOW."

"Please email me in support of issuing subpoenas rather than calling -- you will save my staff a great deal of time logging calls, and you know what kind work we have
to do right now. You can always call and fax later!"

Use this address:

Debra@debrabowen.com

"Anyone cross-posting, please include the contact info -- www.debrabowen.com and the email address. My team will strategize
about this in the next 24 hours. There is so much happening at once."

"I have a stack of documents to read, so I'm going to log off. We'll get our contact plan out before offices open on Tuesday, but email doesn't have to wait for the end of a holiday weekend."

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THANKS EVERYONE, IN ADVANCE, FOR MAKING FIVE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT PHONE CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY.

For more information on election issues, see my website: Who's Counting? Recommend the Chapters on "Technology" and "The Companies" as a Primer.