Defenders Of Democracy

"[Lewis] Massey, a former Georgia Secretary of State, also reported he was paid $2,000 a month by Diebold Election Systems to lobby for the state’s contract to provide electronic voting machines. Diebold eventually won that contract, which is administered by the Secretary of State."
From the Fulton County Daily Report  02/10/06

Lewis Massey, Diebold Lobbyist
Lewis Massey managed the troubled SciTrek Science Museum while lobbying for and finalizing contracts with Diebold Election Systems and Georgia's Secretary of State.  The SciTrek Museum folded shortly after Massey's departure as manager.  Democracy in Georgia came to an abrupt end with the introduction of Diebold's evidence-free,  smoke-screen voting machines.  Georgia's elections have never recovered from the 2002 implementation of the Diebold computerized voting machines, which computer scientists, accountants, and auditors all agree fail to meet any of the minimal standards of their respective professions. 

An examination of the relationship between Lewis Massey and Diebold is incomplete without mentioning that when Lewis Massey was Secretary of State, his second in command was Director of Elections, Cathy Cox, and when Cathy Cox became Secretary of State, Lewis Massey returned to his former employee Cox as a pitchman for Diebold Election Systems.  

Senators Vincent Fort (D) and David Shafer (R) have stood up for  clean elections and co-sponsored S.B. 591,  the Georgia Vote Count Protection Act.  Other co-sponsors include Senators Meyer von Bremen (D), Horacena Tate (D), and Steve Henson (D).  Defenders Of Democracy members and election accountability supporters send thanks and cheer on these co-sponsors, and ask the Senate's State and Local Gov't Operations (SLoGO) Committee to quickly pass the bill through their committee.  Introduction of this strong election accountability bill is a milestone, but the hard part is going to be getting the bill passed.  The battle for passage has just began, and we need as many powerful Republicans and Democrats on our side as possible to make that happen. (We are a non-partisan organization.)  That will only happen with public participation from citizens across the state.  Please contact the SLoGO committee chair and committee members listed below and ask them to approve the Georgia Vote Count Protection Act.

Read the story: What price will we exact from a hero of democracy?
by Robert C. Koehler

Donate to save whistle-blower Steve Heller from retribution and jail time from Diebold Election Systems, and their totalitarian allies in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

The Post noted that Maryland's Republican Governor,  Robert Ehrlich,  has lost confidence in Maryland's all-electronic voting system, and has joined the chorus for a paper trail for Maryland's voting machines.