An Emergency Call-to-Arms

[Eric Smith]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Eric A. Smith
Hot Damn! Design
81-03-3959-5371
address@hidden

(please distribute among your membership.)

 
An Emergency Call-to-Arms: 
A Five-Step Battle Plan for YOUR Future

This is a call to arms to you -- as an American and a custodian of your 
nation's future. Please act as if your life depends on it -- it well might.

We have been led down a dark, perilous road.

The journey has touched us all, from mothers and fathers burying children in a 
war over nonexistent WMD, to firefighters and policemen promised vital funds 
only to be cheated and asked to work for free. Millions of Americans have been 
cut loose as corporations exploit foreign workers on the cheap and CEOs gorge 
themselves on riches unprecedented in history. While Americans take second and 
even third jobs just feed their families, the Bush Administration has poured 
America's wealth into the greedy hands of defense contractors and tax-dodging 
megacorporations, notorious companies like (#1 Bush donator Kenneth Lay's) 
Enron or Cheney's wartime ripoff-artists at Halliburton.

Our environment, safety, economy, national security, labor protection and 
Constitutionally-guaranteed rights have all been gutted and left to die in a 
worker-hostile economy.

NOW WE FIGHT BACK.

Here's what we're facing:

This November, the Bush election machine has more than three times the spending 
power of its opponenets(1) 

And they are fighting dirty, just as they did in 2000, when they purged Florida 
voter rolls(2), rioted to stop recounts(3), barred citizens from voting (ibid) 
and even threatened the Vice President and his family on their front lawn (4).

This year, through gerrymandering, data theft from Congressional computers, 
impeachments and recess judicial appointments, they are trying to consolidate 
their unprecedented power. And they have a special election-season surprise in 
store for us as well -- as the AFL-CIO argued before the Supreme Court last 
December(5), the Bushites have MADE IT A CRIME FOR THIRD PARTIES TO CRITICIZE 
THE PRESIDENT OR SAY THINGS TO INFLUENCE THE ELECTION during the election's 
most critical phase:

"This blackout will become national in scope on July 31, 30 days before the 
August 30-September 2 Republican National Convention . . . and it will then 
continue without interruption throughout the remaining 60 days until the 
November 2 election. Thus, from July 31, 2004 until the election, it will be a 
crime for a union, corporation, or incorporated non-profit organization to pay 
to broadcast any 'reference' to the President by 'name,' 'photograph,' 
'drawing' or other 'unambiguous' means anywhere in the United States." (6) 

They are ruthless, and will not concede victory without a vicious fight. Expect 
the outlawing of gay marriage to "divide and conquer", marginalize opponents 
and consolidate support from the religious right, a base estimated to be 30 
million strong (7). Expect the Supreme Court to halt recounts again. Expect a 
"surprise" discovery of WMD even after Blix, David Kay and Iraq's scientists 
saying they were all destroyed. (8) Expect the "suprise" capture or 
"destruction" of Bin Laden conveniently close to the election (9). Expect lots 
of scary terrorism warnings and perhaps even an attack.(10) General Tommy 
Franks has even suggested a second 9-11-scale attack will lead to martial law 
in America (11).

None of this should deter you; remember it was the same group (Rumsfeld, 
Cheney, Baker, Bush Sr., Perle, etc.) that armed and funded Hussein and Bin 
Laden in the first place. The blood of our dead is therefore on their hands.

We must not underestimate the ruthlessness of those willing to start an 
international war based on known and transparent lies -- virtually against the 
will of the entire planet. Make no mistake; they are willing to throw away 
American lives in their quest for global dominion. And if you rise up and 
oppose them, you may be bullied, harassed and threatened, perhaps even by the 
FBI.(12) YOU MUST NOT LET THIS DETER YOU. WE MUST NOT BE BULLIED INTO LETTING 
THEM SEIZE POWER AGAIN!

And here we come to the deep, dark heart of the matter:

This year 28% of the vote (and counting) will be tallied on electronic voting 
machines or scanners, which have been repeatedly hacked and can be used to fix 
an election -- all without a trace. Below you'll find a link to the diagrammed, 
step-by-step report of how e-vote activist Bev Harris hacked one(13). If you 
think this is exaggeration, please follow the links listed below, where 
everything has been well-documented and by the NY Times, the Washington Post, 
CNN, ABC, CBS, the BBC, etc. (14)

Once paperless, effortlessly hackable (10) voting machines have been installed, 
the situation will be PERMANENT -- we will never know or be able to prove if an 
election has been stolen. And if it HAS -- those who have stolen it CAN NEVER 
BE VOTED OUT. And without the fear of voter reprisal, whoever takes advantage 
of such a situation could do literally anything they wanted and NEVER LOSE 
POWER. It will mean the end of Democracy. And if you work for an activist 
group, it will certainly mean the end of your organization.

We have less than six months to prepare to fight the biggest power grab in 
human history. 

Do your part. 

Help save America.

There will not be a second chance.

A 5-STEP BATTLE PLAN:

I. LOBBYING  (20 minutes approximately)

Tell your representatives to support Bills H.R.2239, 1986, and ESPECIALLY 2045 
(14)

Online e-petitions:
http://www.truemajority.org/actionregister/
http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2821
http://www.verifiedvoting.org
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=14993
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/348035553?ts=1079111375&sign[partner_userID]=304336170&sign[memberID]=304336170&sign[partnerID]=1
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/cleanvote.html

Congress
http://www.senate.gov/
Toll free: 1-800-839-5276 
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

State elections boards
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID29/47.html

State Attorneys General
http://www.naag.org/ag/full_ag_table.php

State Election Officials
http://www.nased.org/

Members, Natl. Assoc. of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks
http://www.nacrc.org/leadership/st_coord.htm

Penelope Bonsall, national director of the Office of Election Administration
Office of Election Administration
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20463
address@hidden
(202) 694-1095 (phone)
(202) 219-8500 (fax)

II. MEDIA BLITZ (one to three hours approximately)
Write a ltter and email or fax it to Radio & tv stations, newspapers & 
magazines in your area:
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/News/
http://newslink.org
http://www.cantufind.com/american_newspapers.htm
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Stations/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/Cable/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Broadcasting/Information/

National Media Contacts:
CBS Evening News
212-975-3691
address@hidden

NBC Nightly News
212-664-4971
address@hidden

Peter Jennings : ABC World News Tonight
Tel : (212) 456-4025, Fax : (212) 456-2381
address@hidden 

Washington Post :
address@hidden, address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,

New York Times:
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden
USA Today: address@hidden 
Houston Chronicle: address@hidden
San Francisco Chronicle: address@hidden 
Los Angeles Times: address@hidden 
Chicago Tribune: address@hidden
Washington Post: address@hidden 
Newsday: address@hidden 
New York Daily News: address@hidden

CNN HeadLine News executives :
address@hidden, address@hidden, 
address@hidden ,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden,

USA Today :
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden,

Los Angeles Times :
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden, address@hidden
address@hidden, address@hidden ,

REUTERS :
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden, address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden , address@hidden ,
address@hidden, address@hidden ,
address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden ,
address@hidden ,

Associated Press:
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden , address@hidden
address@hidden , address@hidden
address@hidden , address@hidden
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden,
address@hidden, address@hidden


III. WITNESS E-VOTE EVALUATIONS (one afternoon) 
Ask your elections board (about any e-voting purchase evaluations meetings to 
be held in your district. As a member of the voting public, it is your legal 
right to attend as a witness, although, out of convenience, they may try to 
avoid giving you the information. Insist on your rights. 

If you do attend as a witness, you may well be a victim of intimidation 
tactics. Insist on voter-verified paper ballots. Bev Harris has written 
comprehensive answers to arguments you will hear. DO NOT BACK DOWN OR BE 
INTIMIDATED BY CIVIL SERVANTS -- they are your EMPLOYEES, paid by YOUR TAXES:

>From Bev Harris, http://www.BlackBoxVoting.Org

Assertion: "Upgrading the printer already in the (Diebold) machine costs money"
Fact: Diebold has stated in writing that their pre-installed internal printers 
are sufficient to generate a voter-verified paper trail.

Assertion: "The paper is very expensive"
Fact: No, thermal paper is the cheapest made. And with an estimated maximmum of 
300 people voting at each touch screen. A LARGE precinct may have seven touch 
screens, but many have just two or three. It might cost $15 per precinct to 
print those ballots.

Assertion: "The paper won't last"
Fact: If the report to be by the machine will last the required amount of time, 
the ballots will too, if printed on the same paper. The printer is there to 
report totals at the polling place. 

Assertion: "the machines will jam"
Fact: The printer is similar to models used in supermarkets and WalMart. 
Remember: the total number of transactions, will be about 300. Do supermarket 
and WalMart printers jam every 15 sales? No; They process thousands of 
printouts without jamming.

Assertion: "the ink will run out" 
Fact: There is no ink in a thermal printer

Question: "If a paper ballot record doesn't match a machine record, which is 
the legal vote?" 
Fact: The voter-verified paper must trump the machine unless a mechanical 
defect or fraud is shown, because it is a physical record seen and verified by 
thousands of individual voters, whereas the machine is bits and bytes that can 
be changed by a single technician!

Assertion: "Paper ballot systems have been tampered with"
Fact: Yes, and machines have been frequently wrong as well. Do not allow 
sidetracking of the discussion or assertions that you are "against electronic 
voting" -- no, we want them to put paper in a printer and use it for auditing.

Assertion: "Officials won't know what to do with paper ballots and new laws 
must be written."
Fact: Laws and procedures set up for optical scans are applicable.

Assertion: "A paper trail will only lead to demands for more complicated and 
stringent auditing"
Fact: Yes, it will. We're asking for that anyway, with optical scanning. It is 
still be cheap and efficient compared to many of the changes currently being 
implemented to accomodate the sales of more touchscreen machines.

Question: "Why use machines at all if you're demanding paper ballots?"
Fact: Voting machines are helpful for the visually impaired 

Assertion: "Paper ballots prevent the visually impaired from voting"
Facts: Wheelchair-assisted voters can use a touch screen with the same 
efficiency whether or not there is a paper printout, and the visually-impaired 
are can be provided with headphones for these machines. Nor does a paper 
printout hinder their ability to vote.

Alternatives to the Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S machines (operated by heavily 
partisan CEOs, designed to operate WITHOUT a paper trail, and whose code and 
components are not allowed to be examined) exist. 

Avante Systems has a machine that shows a printout through a glass screen. 
After the voter confirms it is correct, the paper ballot is droped into a 
storage box so it can be checked against the machine totals and the AccuPoll 
system has a scanner that can pass over the printed ballot to verify votes.

Alternative, secure e-voting machines you can suggest to your elections 
officials:
http://www.accupoll.com/
http://www.aitechnology.com/avantetech/home.html

IV. VOLUNTEER ELECTIONS MONITORING (three days approximately, including 
preliminary training)
Vootewatch is organizing election monitor volunteers here:
http://www.votewatch.us/forum/register.php?

Bev Harris has outlined a point-by-point strategy on specifically what to look 
for when monitoring electronic voting machines. It is also recommended that you 
either download her free e-book "Black Box Voting", or better yet, purchase it 
here:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

>From Bev Harris, http://www.BlackBoxVoting.Org

CITIZEN WATCHDOGS: What to look for and report -- Let's get good at this before 
November! 

Optical-scan systems and absentee ballots: We have information that all systems 
recognize carbon-containing marks (soft lead pencil). Some DO NOT recognize all 
inks. You may want to bring a soft lead pencil to the polling place with you to 
mark your optical-scan ballots. 

All Diebold counties (AccuVote and AccuTouch are Diebold brands) -- Ask that 
the poll workers print a report and post a copy at the polling place at the end 
of the day, whether they are required to or not. All Diebold machines, both 
touch-screen and optical-scan, contain internal printers and have the ability 
to print a polling place results report. This takes 60 seconds and costs 
nothing, and is an important check and balance to compare with the county 
results from the GEMS system, which we believe to contain security flaws. Votes 
should not change from the polling place to the county. 

Report any instance of mismatched polling place/county tabulations here. Do NOT 
accept the excuse that they won't match because early votes, absentee, 
provisional, or challenge votes were added into the polling place totals. That 
is called "co-mingling" the data and is not an acceptable record-keeping 
practice. Additional categories of votes must be accounted for as separate line 
items. 

Sequoia touch-screens do not have an internal printer. A printer can easily be 
hooked up with a serial port. If you see printers, demand a polling place 
report. 

Watch for any "wandering vote tallies" on election night, especially if any 
votes go DOWN. (Yes, this has been known to happen). 

Late poll openings: Report these immediately and we'll try to get cameras 
there. This is a form of vote suppression, often occurring in minority areas. 

Late vote results: Report late incoming tallies. These can be indicative of the 
county trying to resolve voting machine anomalies before filing reports. 

Observe how many cords come in and out of the voting machines. Report any 
evidence of networking the machines together. Report any time you see more than 
a simple power cord plugged in while the election is in progress. 

Wardrive election sites. See if you can pick up wireless signals either during 
or after the election. Wireless communication is not permitted. Also, report 
any use of cell phones for vote transfers, which is also not permitted. 

Election workers: Report the procedures used for training if they seem 
insecure. For example, we have already had reports that in Georgia, some poll 
workers were told to take voting machines home after training; Georgia flag 
artwork was uploaded right before the election; and other unwise and insecure 
procedures were followed. 

Go visit the polling place at the end of the day and see how secure it is. We 
had reports recently of machines left in the polling place unattended. 

Felony watch: In some states, IT IS A FELONY for technicians who are not sworn 
elections officials to touch the vote database in any way, shape or form after 
votes have been cast. In fact, if you look at Chapter 13 of Black Box Voting, 
the San Luis Obispo incident was probably illegal (Diebold tech Sophia Lee was 
tied to a live vote database that appeared on the Internet five hours before 
the polls closed). 

Watch for statistical anomalies. Look at everything. Time is of the essence, as 
these analyses take some time and there are only a few days before the election 
is certified. 

V. LEGAL CHALLENGES (indeterminate)

Author Lynn Landes has questioned the constitutionality of voting machines. 
http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingMachinesUnconstitutional.htm

If your organization has the wherewithal to raise a legal challenge on these 
(or other grounds) here are some resources below:

Election campaign and civil rights lawyers listed for every city:
http://lawyers.findlaw.com/lawyer/practice/Election%20Campaign%20&%20Political%20Law
http://lawyers.findlaw.com/lawyer/practice/Civil%20Rights

Institute for Justice:
http://www.ij.org/index.shtml

Center for Indiviual Rights:
http://www.cir-usa.org/intake.html

Class actions:
http://www.bigclassaction.com/civil_rights.html

Southeastern Legal Foundation:
http://southeasternlegal.org/

Electronic Frontier Foundation attorneys:
address@hidden
address@hidden
address@hidden
address@hidden
address@hidden
address@hidden

Other challenges:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/tuesday/local_news_04d49255058760a400d8.html
http://www.electionguardians.org/actions.htm
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/dieboldlawsuit.pdf

Pax Christi is also organizing an international group of elections monitors. 
More information here:
http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_events_more.asp?id=887

REFERENCES

1 (GOP:$115,667,827 ; Dems:$44,175,502). 
http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/index.asp

2. Greg Palast, Harper's Magazine "The Great Florida Ex-Con Game"  
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=122&row=2

3 a."Unprecedented" -- internet preview of the film
http://www.unprecedented.org/UnprecedentedPreview.htm

3 b. Lynn Landes: "Mission Impossible - Federal Observers & Voting Machines"
http://www.ecotalk.org/FederalObservers.htm

4. Barabara Walters interview"The Note":
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/791744/posts

5.McConnell vs the Federal Election Commission
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/1637/

6. http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0404/hentoff.php

7. "Bush Assures Evangelicals of Commitment to Marriage Amendment"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/12/politics/12EVAN.html?pagewanted=print&position

8a. Online Journal: "Wag the Osama"
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/031004Burns/031004burns.html

8b.NewsNet5: "Ridge Sidesteps Question On Bin Laden's Capture"
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/2917298/detail.html

9. U.S. Unloading WMD in Iraq 
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=3/13/2004&Cat=4&Num=011

10. Aljazeera.net: "Purported Al Qaida Statement"
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2CDD53D6-7AF7-40C7-AF88-32A16072F81B.htm

11. NewsMax: "Tommy Franks: 'Martial Law Will Replace Constitution After Next 
Terror Attack'"
http://infowars.com/print/ps/franks_martial.htm

12. The New McCarthyism, the Progressive:
http://www.progressive.org/0901/roth0102.html

13. Scoop: "Inside a US Election Vote Counting Program"
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0307/S00065.htm

14a. NY Times: "Hack the Vote"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120303A.shtml

b. CBS: "Electronic Voting Causing Concern"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/03/eveningnews/main591185.shtml

c. UK Independent: "All the President's Votes?"
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1013-01.htm

d. Salon: "Will the Election be Hacked?"
http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/02/09/voting_machines/index_nphtml

e. BBC: "Concerns over US Computer Voting"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3489877.stm

f. ABC News: "Avoiding Another Florida Fiasco"
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/SciTech/Voting_machines_040305-1.html

g. "Comparison of Senate Bills 1980, 1986, and 2045"
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/senate_bill_comparison.asp

You are encouraged to distribute this document freely and widely.

Contact: Eric A. Smith, Hot Damn! Design, Tokyo, Japan ● 81-03-3959-5371
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