Tricounty DFA Update: GOTV, Link-Up report, more
Hello Everyone;

In this update:

1. Tomorrow is Election Day --
2. Val Keehn Looking For Volunteers
3. A Message From Ken Klotz
4. A Message On Joanne Yepsen
5. Link-Up Report: Voting Technology Forum For The 30th.
6. Resolution on Alito
7. Kerry Now Believes Vote Was Stolen
8. Zogby Poll Finds Majority Favor Impeachment If Bush Lied On War
9. WFP Urge Budget Reform
10. More on voting issues.

1. Tomorrow is Election Day --

To all the Rip Van Winkles out there, tomorrow is Election Day! Where ever you live, it is important to get out and vote. Although a few marquee races tend to get our attention the most, there are many elected offices in many areas at stake, as well as an important Library Expansion referendum here in the Glens Falls area, and two amendments to the State Constitution on the Budget.

2. Val Keehn Looking For Volunteers

Mayoral Candidate Val Keehn and the team in Saratoga are still looking for volunteers for tomorrow to man phones and tables. From Saratoga DFA Coodinator Pat Friesen:

"Hi Everyone
The momentum continues and many have stepped up to the plate to help out on election day but we still need more help.
We need people to help with phone calls to voters using your cell phones at headquarters or from your homes. We need people to help drive voters to the polls. We need people to sit at a lit table at Skidmore tomorrow - election day.
Please let me know what you can do ASAP! "


3. A Message From Ken Klotz

As Election Day approaches, I'm writing to ask you to get out and vote for
the future of Saratoga Springs.

Valerie Keehn is a dedicated activist and a good friend. I've endorsed her
because we need a Mayor who will fight for open space, quality downtown
development, safe, affordable water from Saratoga Lake, fair assessments,
workforce housing and open government. Valerie has run an active and
energetic campaign. Now we need every supporter to get out and vote on
Tuesday to put her campaign over the top.

Valerie's campaign is just the beginning. Our Democratic Committee has
fielded a full slate of candidates, easily the best in recent memory.
Tom McTygue has led the fight for a new water source and, with your help and
a new City Council, will get the job done. Matt McCabe has brought sound
fiscal policy back to our budget process. John Franck will bring back the
days of Ben Mirling's fair assessment practices. Ron Kim will restore
dignity to the Department of Public Safety. And Cheryl Keyrouze and Joanne
Yepsen will finally give us Supervisors who will put the needs of Saratoga
Springs' taxpayers first.

It's a great slate and a great opportunity.
ON NOVEMBER 8th GET OUT AND VOTE.
Bring your friends and neighbors.
Let's win this for the future of Saratoga Springs.

VOTE ROW B -
KEEHN, McTYGUE, McCABE, FRANCK, KIM, KEYROUZE, YEPSEN.

4. A Message On Joanne Yepsen

Again, from Pat Friesen:

"I'm writing to remind you that it's crucial to get out and vote tomorrow for
Joanne Yepsen for Supervisor. All indications are that this will be the
tightest of races, and every vote will be important.

Because the race is likely to be so close, I am also asking that you
participate our YEPSEN E-MAIL CAMPAIGN by sending this reminder to your
entire e-mail list. Whether you are aware of it or not, you are in a
position to have a huge impact. With races in Saratoga Springs often
decided by fewer than 100 votes, this e-mail campaign may just generate
enough votes to provide the margin of victory.

As supervisor, Joanne will be a strong advocate for our interests. As
Joanne says in her TV ads on Channel 9: "It's time for a change. It's time
for someone to do more than just sit on the county board." Together we can
take a positive step forward for our city. Please be part of this important
election by forwarding this to all of your e-mail contacts. And please
vote. You can make the difference! Thank you."

5. Link-Up Report: Voting Technology Forum For The 30th.

We had another successful DFA-Linkup at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in Downtown Glens Falls last Wednesday. We talked about letter writing and shaping message, had a great discussion and listened to a great conference call with DFA Chair Jim Dean and Governor Dean.

Two major pieces of business were conducted: We adopted a resolution (below) on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court and talked a little about the forum on Voting Machine Technology we discussed at the last meeting.

It is now official; we will have more details later, but there will be a forum on voting machine technology on November 30th in the Community Room at the Crandall Library. Bo Lipari of New York Verified Voting will be there to make a presentation, which, I am told, is terrific and definitive -- and he demolishes the cash for the controversial touch screen voting machines that leave no paper trail. We will have more on this later.

6. Resolution on Alito

We also discussed and unanimously adopted a resolution to our Senators on Judge Alito. This is the resolution:

Greater Glens Falls Democracy For America

Whereas,

All Americans have a right to privacy;
As a result all women have a right to control their own bodies and make their own reproductive choices;
All Americans have a right to Civil Liberties as they have been traditionally understood;
As the Constitution expresses it -- “We The People” of the United States are a single nation, not a collection of 50 separate, bickering states, as opposed to the state’s rights vision of the Federalist Society and the so-called “constitution in exile movement”;
People have human rights which corporations do not because corporations are not people;
The American Ideal is based on 230 year old commitment to equality and inclusion, now including racial, gender and disability equality and inclusion and a committment to the well beaing of the average person, and,

Whereas,

Judge Samuel Alito throughout his career demonstrated biased behavior and a profound hostility to these traditional and sacred American values and is utterly outside the mainstream of American life,

Be It Resolved,
We urge our Senatorial Delegation to use all possible means under the rules of the Senate to prevent Samuel Alito from being seated on the Supreme Court of the United States, including but not limited to a Filibuster.

7. Kerry Now Believes Vote Was Stolen

On the issue of voting reform, we all remember from Election 2004 the controversy over the vote in Ohio. Author Mark Crispin Miller has a new book out on what he believes is the record of extensive voting fraud since 2000. Miller recently spoke to Kerry about what happened in 21004, and was apparently startled to learn that Kerry now also believes the election was stolen. Miller posted this on Democratic Underground where he was in a recent forum: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=399775&mesg_id=399790

8. Zogby Poll Finds Majority Favor Impeachment If Bush Lied On War


Speaking of other High Crimes and Misdemeanors, the latest Zogby Poll discovered the majority of the American people believe Congress should consider impeaching Bush if he lied in getting America into the War: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Zogby_Americans_support_consideration_of_impeachment_1104.html

9. WFP Urge Budget Reform

There are also two propositions on the ballot tomorrow. Prop 1 is supported by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, NYPIRG and other. The WFP sent out this info on both Propositions:


"Proposition 1: Amending the State Budget Process

The New York State Constitution currently gives the governor more power over the budget than in virtually any other state. The amendment shifts the balance back toward what’s normal in the rest of the country. Right now, the governor can bypass the legislature by including non-budgetary items in the budget. The amendment will restore the legislature’s constitutional role.

The amendment will result in fairer budgets and preserve funding for services that help create a more decent society – schools, healthcare and the like. And because it will also improve accountability and transparency by creating an Independent Budget Office and strengthening reporting requirements, the amendment is supported by good government groups like Common Cause and the League of Women Voters.

The WFP recommends voting “YES” on Proposition 1.


Proposition 2: The Transportation Bond Act

This one is a no-brainer. Bridges, highways and transits are essential public goods. The bond act is necessary to provide them with adequate funding. Half the money will go to the MTA, allowing it to make necessary capital improvements in the New York subway system. The other half will go to bridge and highway projects elsewhere in the state.

The projects themselves create jobs, but even more importantly, they will create more opportunity for working New Yorkers by strengthening New York’s physical infrastructure.

And this bond act is the right way to do it. Bond issues are the sensible and customary way to fund long-term capital projects. They’re just like taking out a mortgage to buy a house. This is honest, transparent, up-front borrowing, not the “back-door” borrowing for which state government has sometimes been criticized.

The WFP recommends voting “YES” on Proposition 2."

10. More on voting issues.


Drew Monthie send this rather remarkable list that ties into the voting machine issue and Senator Kerry's recent statement -- food for thought and source for many questions in our voting machine forum on the 30th:

********
20 Amazing Facts About
Voting in the USA
by Angry Girl

Did you know....
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.
http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov.)
http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html
http://uscountvotes.org/

NOTE: Please copy the above list and distribute freely!
LET THE FACTS BE KNOWN! Thank you!

Want a cheap, fair, reliable, and efficient alternative? It exists!
Check out the Swiss Voting System
at http://www.swissvs.org

DECEMBER 2004 GALLUP POLLS
1 in 5 Americans believe the elections were fraudulent.
That's over 41 Million Americans.
You are NOT alone!

WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

Get educated. Tell your friends what's going on.
Go visit http://VelvetRevolution.US

**********


Thanks everyone!

See you all soon,

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 6:22 PM