AUDIO FILES: Public Service Announcements Calling on Action Against PFAW, a Ban on DREs...
By Brad Friedman on 4/11/2007, 7:57pm PT  

Blogged by Brad on the road... (Yes, I'm on the road again for a few days, and struggling to keep up.)

People For the American Way (PFAW) has yet to respond to my formal request or correct their unconscionable use of my name and website in spreading their misinformation about Election Reform and the Holt Bill (HR811) on their website. While I continue to consider them "the good guys," their deceitful behavior and lack of attention to this matter makes it harder to hold on to that assessment.

Please let them hear from you: (pfaw@pfaw.org)

If you've haven't yet, please see this open letter to PFAW from the day before last, requesting that they cease their outrageous mischaracterization of my personal position on Election Reform, as well as condemning the out-and-out dishonest misinformation on the Holt Election Reform bill that they are peddling there. All of that comes on top of their incredibly irresponsible advocacy in favor of the use of dangerous DRE touch-screen voting systems.

They know what they are doing. They are doing it anyway.

While the other major public advocacy groups in league with PFAW --- including MoveOn, Common Cause, VoteTrustUSA, and others --- are not actively advocating for the use of DREs, as PFAW is, none of them have disassociated from PFAW's indefensible position or spoken against their dishonest use of my name and website in support of their agenda.

For those who have expressed skepticism about PFAW's position, since they are usually considered "good guys" in these matters, here's a quick sampling of their statements in support of DRE voting, as published on their website in the official PFAW's analysis of the Holt bill [PDF] (from pages 2 & 3):

DRE technology offers better access options to voters with disabilities and voters who have minority language needs.
...
DRE technology is much more effective for minority language voters.
...
DREs afford voters with disabilities an opportunity to cast an independent secret ballot— something that optical scan paper ballots cannot fully do.

All demonstrably misleading or untrue. Non-tabulating touch-screen ballot marking devices, which print a paper ballot, can be used by the disabled without disenfranchising voters and creating unverifiable electronic ballots. And DRE technology is not "much more effective for minority language voters" --- quite the opposite is true, in fact. They have no science to back up their position. None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

Those statements, however, are at least out in the open. In their "Democracy Campaign FAQ", they have changed their tune, and used quite a bit of rhetorical sleight-of-hand to disguise their position. See my open letter to them for a few of the more egregious examples.

...AUDIO PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS CONDEMNING PFAW'S DISHONEST BEHAVIOR & IN FAVOR OF A BAN ON DRE VOTING SYSTEMS...

Cynthia Black of Action Point on KPHX 1480 (Air America/Nova M Phoenix) kindly asked me to record a couple of quick Public Service Announcements on these matters. They are now running on the station.

She suggested the PSAs be made available for others to use as well. Feel free to pass these on to your favorite local radio station, or use them as you see fit. Two spots, one on PFAW, and one on the need to ban DRE/touch-screen voting systems in Rush Holt's HR811 bill...


-- "Contact PFAW!" PSA Spot [MP3, :26 seconds]


-- "Ban DREs!" PSA Spot [MP3, :26 seconds]

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