Even Less Than No Basis For Confidence, One Year Later

by Dave Berman

http://www.opednews.com

http://wedonotconsent.blogspot.com/2006/07/even-less-than-no-basis-for-confidence.html

July 20, 2006

We know that memory cards, of the sort used here in Humboldt County, can be manipulated in various ways that will alter the results of an election and leave no trace of the crime. Such attacks can occur with or without direct access to the card and even when the card is supposedly "sealed" in the machine. We also have David Jefferson, an expert relied upon by CA Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, saying on PBS: "This particular vulnerability is serious enough that you can affect multiple machines from a single attack." Major kudos to Ion Soncho, Bruce Funk, Harri Hursti, Black Box Voting and VoteTrustUSA for their work in exposing this information.

In closing my public comments last night, I pointed the Council to the fifth of the eight points in the VCR's election reform platform:

5) counting all votes publicly and locally in the presence of citizen witnesses and credentialed members of the media,

With secret computer programming used to tally votes, an election is unverifiable, not only to the voters, but also to the media. I asked the Council to consider how they could take action to advance any of the reforms they advocated one year ago. An opportunity exists now, I told them, in talking to the media about reporting only what they can prove.

I've been emphasizing this theme since the Voter Confidence Committee (VCC) election day press conference. I can announce tonight for the first time that I have secured a commitment from KHUM to host a forum on media accountability. Mike Dronkers will host/facilitate and we'll fill their radio studio with local media decision-makers. We're not going to be able to have complete representation from all local media so I hope this will be part of a series. The date will be September 21 at 6pm so it is possible that we could arrange other installments prior to this. Ultimately everyone should be able to participate. My hope for it all is that the community redefines what is required of media to be considered credible.

Surely there is a lot more progress that can be cited in a tribute to the election integrity movement but unfortunately this brings to a close this year's presentation. If you didn't get mentioned, please know that your work is appreciated and needed and perhaps I'll have actual awards next year. Now please, print out this copy of the VCR, which comes with some planning suggestions on the back, and get your community organized to lobby your City Council. They won't be able to prove the results of the next election, nor will your local media, nor will you. There is no basis for confidence in those results. Everyone knows it, we're just helping them to admit it.

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Extra special thanks to Paul Lehto: Keep doing what you're doing.

http://WeDoNotConsent.blogspot.com

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dave_ber_060721_even_less_than_no_ba.htm