Vermonters: Pay Heed, Take Action
Fellow Vermonters, this is an especially important issue here. While we've stopped the disastrous electronic voting machines, Vermont is still committed to use Diebold (ugh!) optical scanners to count our paper ballots which clearly leaves room for error and fraud.
Please read the following from the Vermonters for Voting Integrity and, if you see the problems I do, take the recommended action ASAP. Thank you!
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 4:32 PM
Subject: Do you trust Diebold electronic voting machines in Vermont?!?
Dear Concerned Vermonter,
You probably have heard about some of the problems with the Diebold electronic voting machines we use here in Vermont.Vermonters for Voting Integrity is a group of concerned citizens, working together to address this issue, by raising awareness and fighting to improve the security of our state's election system. From time to time we will let you know when there are action items, or news you should know about.
In brief, we would like to make sure everyone is aware of these basic facts concerning our election system:
1) The Diebold optical-scan system that is used to count most of the votes in Vermont has been found to have illegal software code on it.
An independent testing agency stated:"Memory card attacks are a real threat: We determined that anyone who has access to amemory card of the AV-OS, and can tamper it (i.e. modify its contents), and can havethe modified cards used in a voting machine during election, can indeed modify the electionresults from that machine in a number of ways.
The fact that the results are incorrect cannot be detected except by a recount of the original paper ballots."The "interpreted code" found on the memory cards is like a "back door" that allows anyone at LHS or Diebold to alter the results of an election, without leaving a trace of evidence. This type of code is specifically banned by the Federal Election Commission for this very reason.In other words, with a very important election coming up - including for Governor, Senate, and Congress, the results of the election could be altered and we would never know. Our democracy is seriously at stake!
2) When this vulnerability was discovered, several other states' election officials took action. The machines we use have been banned in many other areas. Our Secretary of State thus far has not responded.
3) Our election system in Vermont is currently not audited. This means if election fraud took place, it would never be detected.
4) The Secretary of State has the power to conduct random audits, which would provide a means to detect election fraud if it were to take place. According to Title 17 Section 2493 (a) (2):"The secretary of state may conduct a random post election audit of any polling place election results for a primary or general election within 30 days of the election."
IMPORTANT ACTION ITEM: Vermonters for Voting Integrity urges all citizens to contact Secretary of State Deb Markowitz and ask her to use her authority under the Constitution to conduct random audits in the coming November election. Please ask Ms. Markowitz specifically to conduct random hand-count audits on no less than 5% of the ballots that are counted and tabulated by the Diebold optical scan system. Here is the contact information:
Deb Markowitz
Vermont Secretary of State's Office
26 Terrace Street
Montpelier, Vermont 05609
(802)828-2363 email: dmarkowitz@sec.state.vt.us
Kathleen S. DeWolfe
Director of Elections & Campaign Finance
Office of the Secretary of State
26 Terrace St.Montpelier, VT 05609-1101
(802) 828-2304email: kdewolfe@sec.state.vt.us
In addition to this important action item, Vermonters for Voting Integrity encourages you to:
1) Forward this email to friends and associates. Encourage others to sign up for our mailing list (by contacting us at vermontvoters@solarbus.org). The key to getting the Secretary to take action is to show that a lot of people are concerned. This will only happen by grass-roots effort. Please do your part by passing this on and discussing the subject with others. If everyone got just one friend to join our list, it would double in size immediately!
2) Visit our website for more updated information on this important subject: http://solarbus.org/vtvoters
On the website you can find more details about the issues discussed in this email. Please encourage others to visit the website too.
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