Get Involved with Voting Issues
Beginning with the swing states, and
then proceeding to counties whose election officials have been secretive,
members of BBV’s Clean Up Crew make formal requests of public records under
FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) to force officials to disclose their
electoral procedures, and take them to court if they refuse. Headed by e-voting
activist Bev Harris, Black Box Voting has been a leader in documenting
investigations, exposés, whistle-blower accounts, and many examples of flawed elections.
Currently BBV has a Help America Audit campaign and is drawing attention to
VoteHere’s cryptographic “solution” that
would make a farce of voter verifiable paper trails.
Active lobbying in
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich)
Report of the House Judiciary
Committee Democratic Staff to the U.S. House of Representatives about the many
voting problems that occurred in the November 2004 election in
The Election Protection coalition is
headed by People for the American Way (PFAW). Future actions are not yet posted
here, but Federal and state level campaign information will be posted in coming
months. Reports of harassment and
interference with one’s right to vote can be filed here. These are investigated
for possible lawsuits.
Election Reform Information Project
(ElectionLine)
Election Science Institute (VoteWatch)
Electronic Frontier Foundation
EFF has been a
leader in legal action about election irregularities in the various states.
This is a good group for attorneys and paralegals to contact. EFF also
addresses other electronic technology issues.
Electronic Voting Hot List
(Lorrie Cranor)
Jones, Prof. Douglas (Computer
Science, U. Iowa)
Mercuri, Dr. Rebecca (Notable
Software)
National Ballot Integrity Project
Many of the major groups involved
with the November 2004 election and its aftermath are represented on the
coordinating committee of the NBIP, which has affiliated groups in a number of
states. NBIP and its members will be addressing action at the national, state,
and local levels in 2005 and thereafter. Its goals are: (1) voting accessibility for all citizens of legal age, (2)
public oversight of all aspects of the election system, (3) accurate recording,
counting and reporting of all votes cast, and (4) independent exit polling for
key federal and state elections. Its ultimate aim is a nationwide
election system consisting of paper ballots with legal vote status and publicly
observed manual counts.
Neumann, Dr. Peter (SRI
International)
Nonprofit group dedicated to
development, maintenance, and delivery of open voting systems for use in public
elections. They also seek to establish institutionalized protocols that enable
public monitoring of all aspects of election administration. They also intend
that computer software should be open source.
Rubin, Prof. Avi (Johns Hopkins U.)
Solar Bus Election Justice Center
Usability
Professionals’ Association
At the main Verified Voting site
(www.verifiedvoting.org), you can take action on national legislation, get
updates on what is happening nationally and in each state, and sign the Resolution
on Electronic Voting. Verified Voting
was founded by Stanford Professor David Dill, who is an advocate for
voter-verifiable paper ballots and national standards for electronic voting
machines.
Lists activist groups with
contact information in various states. Has two good items for public
distribution: (1) a list of numerous reported abnormalities in the Nov. 2004
election, good for posting in public libraries, schools, etc. (2) "Myth Breakers for
Election Officials" [PDF document], designed to be given to all local
election officials. Pass it on to legislators, the public, and the media as
well. Let them know about serious bugs recently detected in election software,
ballot programming concerns, potential ballot printing delays, and the
importance of backing up election data.
Where’s the Paper? (Teresa Hommel)