Be A Part of History

Today, I was a panelist at a forum, entitled “Does Your Vote Count?” at the City Club of Cleveland, along with Michael Vu, Director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, and Judge Ronald Adrine. Before the event, we were each given a signed copy of the book America’s Soapbox, listing previous panelists on City Club forums. Among them were many famous people. Mr. Foster told us that, by our inclusion in the book, we were, indeed, “making history.”

I smiled when I heard him say that because I’ve told my son that on many occasions since the 2000 election when I said, “Honey, this is history in the making. You are living in historic times!”

I am moved to tears when I watch the growing number of films showing how so many people fought and died for the right to vote, our most fundamental right, the right upon which all others depend; and how those rights have been and continue to be yanked away by those who wish to maintain power. Electronic voting machines, voter-suppression legislation, policies that discriminate against poor and minority voters, are just a few of the many problems in our electoral system. Can we really say we live in a democracy?

At the non-partisan “We Count” conference this weekend, in Cleveland Ohio, you will meet some of the truest patriots ever-people who are giving their all to reverse the direction our country has been taking over these past few years. And you will be making history as you join in the growing democracy movement.

The speakers we’ve lined up are outstanding! Mark Crispin Miller, Bev Harris, Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, Paul Lehto, Richard Hayes Phillips, Bob Koehler, Ron Baiman, Nancy Tobi, Jonathan Simon, Bruce O’Dell, Kathy Dopp, Adele Eisner, Greg Coleridge, Lynn Landes, and others, will inspire you to “Wake Up And Save Your Country! “ (That’s the name of our of our co-sponsors!)

We are extremely privileged to have award-winning filmmakers in our presence-Dorothy Fadiman, Stealing America, Vote By Vote, Laura Paglin, No Umbrella, Ian Inaba, American Blackout, David Earnhardt, Eternal Vigilance and Richard Van Slyke, The Right To Count, who will introduce and play their excellent documentary films. These films and others will also be shown at the conference.

Workshops will teach you how to engage in the electoral process and will provide ways for you to plug into the democracy movement!

I am certain that you will come away from this event with a new perspective, with hope and resolve that “we the people” can save our elections and our Republic.

Even if you can’t make it to this year’s “We Count“, please forward this message to concerned friends who want to do something. Or consider making a small donation to help us pay travel expenses for our amazing speakers as well as publicity, facility rental and other costs. Be a part of history! Don’t miss “We Count – A Conference about Fair Elections and Democracy!”

www.wecount2006.org for more information, to register, or to provide financial support. 216-849-7470

Victoria Lovegren,

Founder, Ohio Vigilance

“If your only involvement in Democracy is in a voting booth 10 minutes a year, then that’s all the democracy you’re going to get.” – Ventura A.E.Simmons

We Count – A Conference about Fair Elections and Democracy

Friday, Sept 29th, from 6pm to 11 pm (Theater)

and

Saturday, Sept 30th, from 9am to 10 pm ( Campus Center #10, Theater)

at the

Cuyahoga Community College (Metro Campus), Cleveland, Ohio
(click here for directions)

Fabulous speakers and engaging workshops:

Keynote speaker :

Mark Crispin Miller

Mark Crispin Miller, Professor at NYU, and author of many books, including :

Fooled Again - How the Right Stole the 2004 Elections & Why They’ll Steal The Next One, Unless We Stop Them

Other speakers include authors, analysts, investigators,
election-integrity and voting-rights activists:

Bev Harris, Paul Lehto, Nancy Tobi, Jonathan Simon, Bob Fitrakis,

Richard Hayes Phillips, Bob Koehler, Greg Coleridge, Harvey Wasserman,

Lynn Landes, Shaun Tucker, Ron Baiman, Kathy Dopp, Tony Minor,

Jerry Adams, Victoria Lovegren, Marj Creech, Rady Ananda, Bruce O’Dell,

Adele Eisner, Teresa James, Ron Olson, Pete Johnson, Stuart Wright,

Warner Mendenhall, Vickie Karp, Abbe DeLosier

and more.

Ohio Gubernatorial and Secretary of State Candidates :

Bob Fitrakis, James Lundeen, Bill Peirce, Lee Fisher, Anita Rios

Jennifer Brunner and Tim Kettler

Filmmakers :

Laura Paglin (“No Umbrella”); Dorothy Fadiman(“Stealing America: Vote by Vote”); Jeff Kirkby (“Digital Quagmires”); David Earnhardt (“Eternal Vigilance”); Richard Van Slyke(“The Right To Count”); Ian Inaba (“American Blackout”); Rose Wilcher

and others.

Sponsors:

Ohio Vigilance, Velvet Revolution, People For the American Way, America Votes, Northeast Ohio Sierra Club, Northeast Ohio AFSC – Economic Justice and Empowerment Program , Free Press, CASE-Ohio, J30 Coalition, 51 Capital March, Clamor Magazine, Coloradoans for Voting Integrity, Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, Concentric Media, CountPaperBallots.com, Cuyahoga County Green Party, Democracy for New Hampshire, Democracy.com, ElectionFraudNews.org, Farhad Sethna-Immigration Attorney, Gathering To Save our Elections, style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Times New Roman;">Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network, Hackedelections.com, Keen Bee Creative Studios, Laura Paglin(“No Umbrella”), Missourians for Honest Elections, Ohio Voter Reform, Ohioans for Democratic Values, OpEdNews.com, Peace Action, Progressive Democrats of America – Ohio, Roaming Video, The World Can’t Wait, Voices of Cleveland & Beyond Productions, Wake Up And Save Your Country, Women Speak Out For Peace and Justice, Election Defense Alliance

and others.

Performing Artists :

Richard Hayes Phillips, Victoria Parks, Katie Daley, Terrence Provost,

and others.

For more information & pre- registration ( strongly encouraged),

please visit: www.wecount2006.org or call 216-849-7470.

From Michael Collins:

TheBradBlog is rocking today featuring a discussion of the Zogby Poll on record levels of distrust for the 2004 election plus blogs on RFK Jr’s appearance on HardBall, the Emergency Paper Ballot Legislation, and the NYT’s awakening from it’s slumber on election fraud issues.

Enjoy, Michael Collins
CHECK www.electionfraudnews.com

TheBradBlog http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3537#more-3537

“Scoop” Article on Zogby Poll http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0609/S00346.htm

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=503125

Major makeover possible at MSNBC

Cleveland, Here I Come!
Joan Brunwasser, Voting Integrity Editor, OpEdNews
September 26, 2006

I’m getting ready for the We Count 2006 conference for fair elections in Cleveland this weekend. I’m thrilled about meeting a number of people that I’ve only had cyber-contact with, up till now. The conference has so many outstanding speakers (among them Mark Crispin Miller, Bev Harris, Steven Freeman, Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, Lynn Landes, Paul Lehto and Bob Koehler, my traveling companion), my head is reeling and I haven’t even left the Chicago city limits.

As you might imagine, the subject of the conference is dear to my heart. The following excerpt is from their website http://wecount2006.org Read this and tell me it doesn’t sound fabulously interesting. What could possibly be more relevant and timely with November just around the corner?

Conference Objectives

EDUCATE: We will warn conference participants about the dangers of electronic voting machines, the privatization of elections and the many other ways that the will of the people has been, and will continue to be, subverted…unless we act.
Read more.

From Bruce O’Dell:

There is another serious problem with absentee voting: many jurisdictions now use electronic signature verification software, in some cases provided by … our friends at Diebold.

The Diebold “VoteRemote” application uses optical image recognition technology to check a paper signature against a digitized reference signature on file (say, a voter registration or a photo ID database).

In case enough alarm bells have not already gone off for you, let me add one or two of my own.

The VoteRemote software obviously can be interfaced with computerized voter registration databases; such a product is, conveniently enough, also sold by Diebold. Signature verification software also has a setting which controls how precise the match needs to be with the signature sample held in the voter registration database in order for the ballot to be accepted as genuine.

In those states with partisan registration, it’s not difficult to imagine covertly programming such a machine for very forgiving tolerances for verification of signatures of voters in one party … and much tougher standards for verifying the signatures of voters of another party.

Did I mention that since absentee ballot signature verification software does not actually tally votes (it only disqualifies them) it is exempt even from the ludicrously lax testing and certification protocol applied to vote tallying software?

Did I mention that according to witness testimony published on Black Box
Voting’s web site, a rather well known individual named Jeffrey Dean was involved with development of
VoteRemote?

My advice: in 2006, run as far away from an absentee ballot as fast as you can.

-Bruce