We've got the permit, at least one speaker, and we've notified the media. Me and my new best friend "Gerald" sure hope to see you at the capitol at Sunday at noon. Tell your friends. Bring a sign. Wear something orange if you want. Sorry for the length of this message. --Kat
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
Contact:
Gerald Ganann, Minnesota Coordinator
612-823-8522,expatriatetexan@hotmail.com
Kip Humphrey, National Coordinator
713.956.8792, kiphumphrey@51capitalmarch.com
http://www.51capitalmarch.comMinnesotans to join 51 Capital March in St. Paul December 12:
Citizens in at least 26 states to take part in “You Stole my Vote!” protest and voice lost confidence in the U.S. election system during 2004 election
ST. PAUL, MN (December 9, 2004) – Minnesotans are responding to the call of a national effort -- 51CapitalMarch -- to go to their state capitol or the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, Dec. 12, at noon to protest the loss of Americans’ voting power and the lost security of the nation’s voting systems in the 2004 elections.
Annie Young, Minneapolis, a local government Green Party office holder and a leader with the Recount Ohio effort, and others, will speak at the event. Young was a national leader with the 2004 Cobb/LaMarche Green Party presidential campaign.
Gerald Ganann, Minneapolis, is Minnesota’s state coordinator. A transplanted Texan who has lived in Minnesota since 1969, Ganann said this is the first protest he’s ever been compelled to get involved in. “I’ve never been affiliated with a political party, and prior to this fall’s election, I’d never been involved with a campaign other than writing out a check,” said Ganann. “The many incidences of vote fraud in this election and the overall lack of public discussion about the loss of integrity of our election processes alarms me. It’s time to speak up.”
Organizations supporting the Minnesota protest include United for Peace & Justice, West 7th Neighbors for Peace, CASE-MN, Code Pink, November3.us/No Stolen Elections, and Cobb-LaMarche Recount.
Protesters will demand that:
•Electoral college electors refuse to cast ballots on Monday, December 13, for president and vice-president until state election officials provide a complete, fair, accurate and verified manual vote recount
•State elected officials act immediately to restore integrity to our voting systems by adopting state provisions of the Voter's Bill of Rights and eliminating unsecured vote tabulation on PCs and software
•Federal elected representatives investigate vote fraud and vote count manipulation in the 2004 elections with the intent of developing and enacting federal guarantees protecting our voting power and the integrity of our voting systems
The "You Stole My Vote" protest is a citizens’ uprising. "With little support and no backing from any organization, citizen groups are spontaneously forming across the country,” says 51 Capital March founder and organizer, Kip Humphrey, a native of Plymouth, Minn., now an IT consultant in Houston. “They are mobilizing fellow citizens to make a sign and show up at their state capitols on December 12." Citizens from 36 states have contacted Humphrey and protests are currently planned in 26 capital cities so far.
Humphrey, 52, said he was motivated to launch the protest after his experience voting on Nov. 2.
"I went to the poll with my family. We voted on e-voting machines rigged with an exploit to deny Kerry Democratic votes. When I got home, I thought of my three young adult children, two who had just voted in their first election, and I wept. I realized they faced futures without the guarantees of freedom and democracy that I have enjoyed. I could not sit by and watch their votes be stripped of their power and security without doing something.”
A week later, aided by his 21-year-old son, Humphrey began building the 51CapitalMarch website and set the date for a nationwide citizen protest. On November 27th they launched the site by sending out 73 emails. Since then, thousands of people have become involved and their idea for a citizen's uprising has mushroomed into a national movement of fellow citizens upset at what happened in the 2004 election count and committed to speaking up about it.
Humphrey researched e-voting systems websites through technical sites like blackbox. com and voter advocacy sites like Blackboxvoting.org, and VerifiedVoting.org’s Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS). Incident reports in EIRS led him to uncover the exploit running on the voting machine he and family members used to cast their votes. The exploit occurred on Hart inter Civic eSlate voting machines. If a voter selected "Vote Democratic Slate," no vote would register for John Kerry, Humphrey said. To complete the exploit, the vote review screen opened at the very bottom of the ballot. A voter had to scroll through pages of ballots that showed Democratic votes registered, one after another. Only those diligent voters who paged back to the top of their ballot would notice that none of the Democratic votes registered for Sen. John Kerry.
Humphrey is optimistic about the turnout on Sunday. “I'm frankly astounded by how quickly things are moving. So many people are appreciative of the opportunity to stand up and speak out about what has happened in our country and to our votes", said Humphrey. "Their courage and commitment to our country are awe-inspiring."
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