BBV: Washington State action item... - Democratic Underground

Andy_Stephenson

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Wed Jan-07-04 04:20 PM
Original message

BBV: Washington State action item...

Edited on Wed Jan-07-04 04:26 PM by God_bush_n_cheney

RE: Fair Elections in Washington

Dear Supporter and Activist:

Come one, come all!!

At long last, a much needed and long overdue public discussion with a question & answer period has been planned by our current Secretary of State, Sam Reed and other key insider election officials. (Event details provided below.)

Finally, we have the opportunity to ask the questions that must be asked of our officials. Your attendance at this event tomorrow evening is crucial. There is little doubt that the insider election officials want to present what they believe are all the right answers and pack up and leave for the evening, feeling satisfied that they have dutifully ‘informed the public.’

There is also, however, little doubt that an educated crew of black box voting activists, will make the evening much more interesting for our election officials and for the public in attendance! And that’s where you come in. We need to vote for more accountability in our election systems by making a strong showing in numbers of concerned voters tomorrow night – and that’s you!

It is our intent to make this event more of an education for Sam Reed and the other election officials than an education for us – voters who have worked tirelessly on this to uncover holes and ‘patches’ and inconsistencies in how our elections are conducted and votes are counted.

It is crucial that we communicate to Mr. Reed by sheer attendance numbers that the citizens of this state are not appeased by nor satisfied with the state’s continued assurances that elections are safe, secure and fair.

Let’s show our election officials the real pulse of the citizen electorate. To do so, we need as many people to attend as possible. Our election officials need an immediate and jolting wake-up call. We finally know enough to ask the hard questions and we fully intend to do so. Don’t miss this moment! Each individual who takes the time to have his voice heard is one more point for democracy!

My primary goal in my run for Washington Secretary of State is to work now and after I am elected to preserve the cornerstone of democracy: Transparent & Fair Elections. The current election officials in our state have been very quiet about the implementation of computerized voting but also procedures for distributing, receiving and tabulating absentee ballots. It is time to force them to open up the election procedures and this event shall serve as the turning point for doing so. Let’s make history tomorrow night!

I look forward to seeing and meeting all of you!

Andy Stephenson
Candidate for Washington Secretary of State, 2004
stephenson_for_sos@yahoo.com

EVENT DETAILS:

Your Vote Counts: Making Democracy Work

January 8, 2004 7:30 p.m. Seattle First Baptist Church Harvard & Seneca

Speakers:
Sam Reed, Secretary of State
Dorry Elias, Executive Director, Minority Executive Directors Coalition of King County
Dean Logan, Director Records, Elections and Licensing Division of King County
Bob Terwilliger, Snohomish County Auditor
Dr. Barbara Simons, Founder and Co-chair US Public Policy Committee of Association for Computing Machinery
Rachael Myers, Associate Director, Real Change News

Issues that will be covered by speakers include: Help America Vote Act and implementation, Touch screen voting - pro and con, King County elections, Vote by mail, and Access by underrepresented communities to registration, elections and election information.