Defenders Of Democracy

Webmaster's note: This website strives to be non-partisan, and welcomes people from all parties to join us in our fight for democracy. Mr. Dugger has been prescient in his examination of the subject of electronic voting, and was highly critical of the topic back in 1988. Mr. Dugger's article will not be looked kindly upon by Republicans who are uncritical of the current Bush administration. However, we are publishing Mr. Dugger's article unedited, as we feel that his conclusions, and his call to action, are appropriate in this time of democratic crisis. In both Georgia and Maryland, the Democrats are in control of the Secretary of State's office, and we have zero respect for their indefensible support of evidence-free voting and will fight these state administrations with every legal means necessary. It is time to prepare to fight.

While the Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board has finally awakened to one glaring item in a rat's nest of dangers related to paperless electronic voting, citizens still face an uphill battle in dissuading our Secretary of State from continuing the spread of honeyed disinformation about Georgia's new evidence-free voting system.

In her recent op-ed piece, Ms. Cox happily discussed the issue of the now-discarded punch card and lever machine voting systems, claiming that 'numerous academic, governmental, and media studies' have shown them 'exponentially' more error-prone than her beloved Diebold electronic system. Three questions: Exponentially? What studies? Exactly what kinds of errors? One well-known nationwide study, that of CalTech/MIT, assessed the rates of uncounted, unmarked, and spoiled ballots (the 'residual vote') for the last four presidential, Senate, and governor's elections nationally. The July 2001 report states that punch cards and lever machines did indeed perform worst overall, but electronic machines also rated poorly. Hand-counted ballots and optically scanned paper resulted in the lowest levels of residual votes.

Georgia's Voting Machines - An Overview for Poll Watchers:

The Voting Machine Used Statewide: Diebold AccuVote TS

The Voting Machine Used for the Pilot Project in one precinct  in Cobb, Camden, and Bibb Counties:  Diebold AccuVote TSx

A sample flyer which the Secretary of State's Office is supposed to be giving to voters in the pilot project precincts is attached to the bottom of this page.  File name: PublicHearingsCobb7.jpg

Read the Complete Article

If you have not yet requested an absentee ballot as of November 2nd, 2006, this article should be considered OUT OF DATE for the upcoming November 7th election.  If you have already recieved your absentee ballot, please follow the appropriate instructions to mail it in or turn it in as soon as possible to your county's Board of Elections / Registrars office.  If one has duties or responsibilities on election day, go vote early on Thursday Nov. 2nd or Friday Nov. 3rd at your county's Board of Elections / Registrars office or other approved early voting location in your county.  Otherwise, please go vote in your appropriate precinct on election day.  Note that Defenders does not prefer Georgia's current implementation of early voting over in-precinct voting.  In fact, early voting may be even less secure than in-precinct voting.  However, please VOTE either on or before election day.   

Speaker of the House Nullified San Diego Congressional Race

By Michael Collins
“Scoop” Independent Media
Washington, DC
Friday, 25 August 2006, 10:45 pm

It appears the US media overlooked one of the great political stories of the year. In what is becoming something of a pattern, here’s a brief chronology:

On June 6, 2006 Republican Brian Bilbray allegedly slightly outpolled Democrat Francine Busby in the special election for California’s 50th Congressional District, despite Busby’s lead in the polls going into the election. There were immediate cries of foul following the election due to major irregularities, including electronic voting machines sent out to the homes and cars of volunteers for up to 12 days prior to the election, and irregular election results like huge mega-precincts of absentee ballots where turnout was thousands of percent more than registered voters.