Guest Blogged by John Gideon
Yesterday the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) announced that “Special Circumstances” would require them to hold a public hearing next Tuesday, 1 May in Washington DC. The “Special Circumstances”?
It seems that the state of Florida asked the EAC if they could use funds provided under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to replace their present paperless touch-screen DRE voting systems and someone at the EAC told the state that they didn’t think it would be alright for the state to spend their HAVA funds for anything like going to a paper based voting system. But, the EAC representative said that the Commissioners would have to get together and vote on the issue.
So, yesterday the commission announced when that vote would take place; May 1. That’s three working days from now. That’s three days for the state and the state’s very active Election Integrity community to prepare their statements in favor of spending the states own funds for their own voting system.
And, this public meeting that is very important to the state of Florida — will be convened in Washington DC to ensure that the commissioners make it as hard as possible for anyone to attend and voice their opinions.
The EACs “Sunshine Notice” announcement is for a meeting that is murky and as closed as the EAC can possibly make it without directly violating federal law.









This ties in with the myriad problems with HR811, which makes the scandal-ridden EAC a permanent fixture and increases its power. What is going on with the grassroots effort to stop HR811 from becoming law as it was orginally written by Rep. Rush Holt? Surely this example of the EAC working against election integrity, and creating roadblocks to fraud investigations, will be brought to the attention of our HR811-supporters on Capitol Hill.
Linda — For some answers to your question, check in with http://www.electiondefensealliance.org.
Thanks,
Ginny Ross
Portland, OR
Wow, ya gotta admire them, these chicks got some serious brass balls on em.
Paperless voting……Doh!
I may have to consider moving to another country if every State in the U.S. considers this.
Thanks for the link, Ginny.
BTW, it’s impossible to send an e-mail message to a representative in the U.S. Congress who’s not the representative from your own district, unless you make up a snail-mail address in their district. This blockage of citizen inquiries is wrong. We should all have access to any representative who’s involved in legislation that will affect us, regardless of where the district lines happen to be drawn on any given day.
I did send yet another letter about my concerns re HR811 to my rep, Lynn Woolsey, and I also sent one to my Sec. of State, Debra Bowen, who’s likely already involved in the HR811 efforts.
Here’s a copy of my letter, for anyone out there who may want to send a letter to their rep, but who doesn’t have the time or the confidence to draft their own. It’s easy to change it to fit your particular circumstances.
Dear (name of representative),
I just read that the state of Florida asked the Election Assistance Commission if they could use HAVA funds to replace their paperless electronic voting systems. The EAC denied their request, saying that it wouldn’t be appropriate to spend state HAVA funds for a verifiable voting system. The EAC then said that it would have to get together and vote on the matter.
On April 26, the EAC announced that it would vote on the matter on May 1, only two working days later, in Washington D.C. That gives two working days for Florida’s very active Election Integrity community to prepare their statements in favor of spending the state’s own funds for their own voting system.
The logistical decision by the EAC to hold the meeting in Washington, D.C., and not in Florida, creates additional, unnecessary roadblocks to the activist citizens in Florida to attending this meeting.
The reason I am writing to you about this, is because I have written to you in the past about my objections to many of the provisions in HR811. One of my objections is that HR811, as originally written by Rep. Holt, makes the scandal-ridden EAC a permanent fixture and increases its power.
Surely this example of the EAC working against the Election Integrity community in Florida, supports my concerns about HR811, and underscores the need to rewrite this important piece of legislation.
Respectfully,
(Your name)
I am getting so frustrated with this. Revolution looks like the only answer.
So at this rate, will our next president be Guiliani or Romney? We can probably start laying out bets down now.