Washblog

The 2007 state legislative session is approaching fast, and we are looking forward to an exciting year.  Given the positive results of the November elections, where many of our state legislative
supporters were elected or re-elected, we have a real chance of significant victories this year!

In order to take advantage of these opportunities, and use our resources more efficiently, we are beginning an expanded volunteer program.  Below are two tasks that we need volunteer help with.  Can you help?  

Volunteer Coordinator

Duties: Recruit volunteers from Washington Public Campaigns membership to help with various tasks.  

Time required: 3-5 hours per week, ongoing.

Location: Home project -- phone and e-mail/Internet access needed.

Skills needed: Good communications, organizational, and people skills.

Membership Data Manager

Duties: Collect and enter missing information for Washington Public Campaigns members.  Send welcome letters to new members.

Time required: You can make a one-time commitment of 4 hours or more, or an ongoing commitment of 3-5 hours per week.

Location: Home project -- phone and e-mail/Internet access needed. It is best if you are within driving distance of Burien, WA, for
training and materials pick-up.

Skills needed: We need a precise, detail-oriented person for this job.

If you can help with either of the above projects, please contact me at 206-322-4229 or katy@washclean.org.  I hope to hear from you!

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving,

Katy Carter
Executive Director
Washington Public Campaigns
katy@washclean.org
http://www.washclean.org/

P.S.  Don't have time to volunteer right now?  Then please make a financial donation to support our efforts.  Every donation helps, no matter how large or small.  Click here to  make a secure online donation or learn where to send a check:

http://www.washclean.org/donate.htm

Thank you!

Voters from Sarasota County announced today that they are filing suit in state court in Tallahassee asking for a revote in Florida's 13th congressional district. The suit alleges that thousands of citizens were disenfranchised when massive undervotes plagued the tight congressional race between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. In a high-profile battle over former Rep. Katherine Harris' seat, the result was decided by 363 votes, yet over 18,000 ballots cast on Sarasota County's e-voting machines registered no vote in the race, an exceptional anomaly in the State.
The lawsuit is being filed by a group of Sarasota County voters, both Republican and Democratic. The voters are represented by election advocacy groups, including Voter Action, People For the American Way Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida.

"Election officials have shown remarkable disregard for the ability of voters to actually cast a ballot," said Ralph Neas, President of People For the American Way Foundation. "Casting a vote is one of our most fundamental rights, and that right was violated for thousands of Sarasota County voters. At this point holding a new election is the only appropriate option." Neas also called for statewide election reform, saying, "Florida can no longer afford to certify election results that no one trusts."

ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon noted: "For years, Gov. Jeb Bush's administration, including various Secretaries of State, has dismissed reports of problems with electronic voting machines and resisted mandating audits and other methods of ensuring that electronic voting machines are capable of performing a genuine re-count. We even had to go to court to overturn an Administrative Rule issued by the Secretary of State banning recounts in DRE Counties. Now we have mass disenfranchisement and a crisis in voter confidence in the integrity of the elections. It is likely that the faulty machines, not the voters, decided this election."

Voter Action, a national nonpartisan advocacy group focused on election integrity has been leading legal efforts nationally to address the problems with electronic voting. "The problems in Sarasota are not unique," said election law attorney Lowell Finley, co-director of the organization. "Across the country we have seen how these systems lose large numbers of votes, switch voters' selections on the screen, cause high undervote rates, add votes or even count votes backwards. Our democracy is too important to continue using unreliable and untrustworthy voting equipment. The people of Sarasota are standing up for their most fundamental right no matter their political affiliation. This is about protecting democracy."

The suit is being filed under provisions of Florida law that permit voters to contest an election based on misconduct by election officials or on evidence that legal votes were rejected in sufficient numbers to place in doubt the outcome of the election.

The voters' lawsuit cites misconduct of election officials, including the failure of Sarasota Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent to adequately investigate, identify or report equipment malfunctions, software malfunctions or ballot layout errors in the ES&S iVotronic touch screen voting machines, even after she received numerous complaints about the machines from voters and pollworkers during the two week period of early voting.

The lawsuit also alleges that the iVotronic voting machines were improperly certified by the Florida Secretary of State in disregard of early warnings concerning the reliability and trustworthiness of e-voting systems made by ES&S systems.

On Monday, the Florida Elections Canvassing Commission certified Vern Buchanan as the winner of the Congressional District 13 race by 363 votes, despite the fact that electronic ballots cast by more than 18,000 people in Sarasota County showed no vote for either candidate in a high profile congressional race. This is an undervote rate of more than 16%, compared to an undervote rate of 2.5% in the paper absentee ballots and 1% in the U.S. Senate race on the same electronic ballot.

At a public hearing hosted last Thursday by PFAWF, ACLU of Florida, Voter Action, Common Cause, and Fair Vote Florida, numerous voters in Sarasota County reported that when the summary screen appeared on the ES&S voting machines they were assigned to use, their vote had not been recorded. Some voters were able to go back and record a vote, but others believe they were never given a meaningful opportunity to cast a vote in that race.

The lawsuit notes that absentee ballots, which are cast on paper instead of the computerized touch screen voting machine, did not reflect a similar lack of votes in the congressional race in Sarasota, and that other counties in the same congressional district--which used different voting equipment--did not experience the same massive undercount in the congressional race.

"The voters of the 13th Congressional District deserve to know for sure who they elected," said Electronic Frontier Foundation Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Voters should not have to take the word of vendors and election officials when serious problems emerge that call into question the accuracy of the results. This suit is designed to help voters find out what really happened."

VOTER ACTION NEEDS YOUR HELP! Please Donate today.

Because we are working on behalf of voters and not a candidate or political party, all donations are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by law and can be made through our fiscal sponsor, the International Humanities Center, a 501(c)(3) organization through the Voter Action website.

Voter Action
email: info@voteraction.org
phone: 206-723-1941
web: http://www.voteraction.org