Remember, 2+2=4. If the Bush cabal is allowed to say
that 2+2=5, than the US Constitution and the
democratically elected government it guarantees us is
finished. 2+2=4. Read Orwell, check on your voter
registration, encourage your friends to do the same.
Get out the vote in November. Our best hope is that
the turnout and the majority vote in this national
referendum on the CHARACTER, CREDIBILITY and
COMPETENCE of the incredibly shrinking _resident is so
overwhelming that there is no ambiguity to be
exploited...
Kim Zetter, Wired: The voting panel also recommended to Shelley that he ask the state attorney general to examine the possibility of bringing civil and criminal charges against Diebold for violating California election codes, which state that vendors cannot change software without notifying the secretary of state's office. The codes also say that no vendor can install
uncertified software on voting systems.
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Eleciton,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63179,00.html
Diebold Machine May Get Boot By Kim Zetter
Story location:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,63179,00.html
11:56 AM Apr. 22, 2004 PT
SACRAMENTO, California -- A California voting systems
panel recommended Thursday that the secretary of state
decertify an electronic voting machine made by Diebold
Election Systems, making it likely that four counties
that used the machines will have to find others for
the November election.
The panel said the state should decertify the Diebold
TSx. The TSx was used for the first time in California
during the March primary in Kern, San Joaquin, Solano
and San Diego counties. Kevin Shelley, California's
secretary of state, has until April 30 to decide
whether to act on the panel's recommendation. The
state must give counties a six-month notice to take
machines out of commission before an election.
The panel discovered last November that Diebold had
installed uncertified software on the machines.
The voting panel also recommended to Shelley that he
ask the state attorney general to examine the
possibility of bringing civil and criminal charges
against Diebold for violating California election
codes, which state that vendors cannot change software
without notifying the secretary of state's office. The
codes also say that no vendor can install uncertified
software on voting systems.
"This doesn't solve the problems," said Tab Iredale, a
Diebold developer. "It just sets a tone of
confrontation at a time when we should be working
together to address issues with the certification
process."
Diebold spokesman David Bear said the company intends
to try to resubmit the TSx machines for federal and
state certification before the November election.
Members of the voting-systems panel have said they no
longer want to certify machines under the pressure of
an impending election. But a spokesman for the
secretary of state said Diebold will not be barred
from resubmitting for certification.
Deborah Hench, San Joaquin County's registrar of
voters, expressed surprise at the panel's move. She
said she had no idea what her county would do if
instructed not to use the TSx machines in the November
election. For the March election, the county borrowed
optical-scan machines from other counties and from
Diebold. If the secretary of state agrees to decertify
the TSx, the counties will have to scramble to find
optical-scan machines, and there might not be enough
to go around.
Diebold Election Systems President Bob Urosevich was
forced to defend his company's business practices
Wednesday at a contentious meeting in Sacramento
before the panel. Urosevich, accompanied by a defense
lawyer and a public relations consultant hired
specifically to see the company through its California
crisis, worked hard to convince the panel that the
company has reformed its ways and can be trusted to
conduct elections.
But members of the panel appeared to disagree with the
company's claims, saying repeatedly that Diebold had
been less than forthcoming during the state's nearly
five-month investigation into its practices, often
producing "frivolous" documents or responding slowly
to state queries.