URGENT ACTION ALERT!

A flood of phone calls from constituents could be all it will take to break the roadblock at this critical moment. Pick up the phone NOW and call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121. Tell your Representative that Congress must pass HR 6187 before they adjourn, to make sure that every vote will count when voting machines malfunction or count votes incorrectly as they have in every primary this year.
If you don't know your Representative's name, click here and enter your zip code to find out. You can also use this link to find your Representative's direct telephone number on Capitol Hill by clicking on his or her photo, which will appear once you've entered your zip code.

Then Immediately Call Both of Your Senators
As soon as you hang up with your Representative's office, call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 to speak with both of your Senators' offices. Tell them to pass S. 3943 before Congress adjourns to ensure that every vote will count in November. If you don't know both your Senators' names, click here and enter your zip code to find out. You can also use this link to find your Senator's direct telephone number on Capitol Hill by clicking on his or her photo, which will appear once you've entered your zip code.
Please forward this email to your friends, family and email list acquaintances and ask them to help you make sure everyone's vote counts in November!
Thank you for all you do to preserve our democracy!

Bo Lipari
Executive Director, New Yorkers for Verified Voting

Urgent Action Alert from New Yorkers for Verified Voting email

Albany: "Protect Your Vote" rally at NYS Board of Elections meeting

Date : 26 September 2006 From : 11:30am To : 1:30pm

A rally and call for attending the NYS Board of Elections meeting at noon in Albany.

The State Board has asked the County Commissioners to choose New York State's next voting systems by October 31. This is before the State would have reasonable time to test the voting systems to certify them for security. The same systems submitted in New York State have been shown to have large security flaws after they were federally "certified" by testing companies. These certification companies include the one hired by the NYS Elections Board.

Guest speakers include:

• Kirsten Gillibrand, candidate for U.S. Congress, 20th Congressional District
• Bo Lipari, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Verified Voting
• Rev. Mick Drown of Trinity United Methodist Church
• Minister Victor Collier of Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church
• Jessica Wisneski of Capital District Citizen Action
• - and more.

Location:

Contact: Barbara Murphy at the below email address, or 518-399-0652 Sponsored by: Democracy for The Hudson Mohawk Region

From the rally organizer:
The voting machine vendors are private corporations who have been lobbying for their electronic voting systems to NYS and County officials since the passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002. These companies refuse to open their computer code to public scrutiny, claiming it is proprietary property. This secret code counts our votes and, in the worst cases, both records and counts them. The code can be manipulated by insiders, hacked by intruders and can contain human coding errors - all of which can rob us of having our votes counted as we cast them. Computer experts agree that NO company can guarantee security: Liberty (Nedap) machines have been shelved indefinitely as insecure after being purchased by the entire country of Ireland. In the past, Sequoia code was found unprotected on-line and Diebold once again has been shown to be hackable in a new Princeton study. Malfunctions have abounded across the U.S. with equipment that supposedly passed federal certification.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice is trying to hold States hostage to deadlines and offers of money to implement the HAVA act. Yet the federal government has not met its own deadlines and guidelines to guarantee that secure, accountable, reliable and accessible systems are available. Electronic voting systems, especially DREs (commonly called Touchscreens) are proving to be far more expensive to purchase and maintain. Voters must insist on a thorough review before selecting a new system.

A hand marked paper ballot with a ballot marking device for handicapped voters is available now. When security is guaranteed, a counting device, an optical scanner, can be added later. The hand marked ballots are securely retained as the official record of our votes. Scanners have less program code, last longer and cost less to maintain. They can and should be programmed by public employees thus allowing code to be open to public review.

Time is short to protect our votes. Hope to see you all [at the rally/meeting]"

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