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| 1-29-08: Citizen's Guide to Following... |
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| Author |
Message |
    
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 7562
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 6 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 2:04 pm: | 
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By Bev Harris - Black Box Voting
Vickie Karp - Vote Rescue, Austin TX
with photo provided by Tom Courbat, taken by Paul Jacobs
If you live in Florida or any of the Super Duper Tuesday (Feb. 5) states, your votes are soon going to be toted around the county. Who's transporting them? Is the chain of custody secure? What we found in New Hampshire proves you should take nothing for granted, and you may be stone cold horrified at what you see.
Now's the time to get in gear and track your own local chain of custody. Here are some tips:
TRACK BALLOTS, MEMORY CARDS, AND CARTRIDGES
The most interesting locations are the county (or in New England, Town/City) election headquarters, and the depots, drop-off centers, and other consolidated locations set up to receive multiple precincts at once before toting them downtown.
In Florida, we found some of the most interesting anomalies clustered in the Daytona Speedway drop off site. Here, poll workers from dozens of Volusia County polling places had been instructed to drive through a Daytona Speedway drop-off site, hand over their poll tapes and memory cards, and drive away.
In California, Tom Courbat and the SAVE R VOTE group tracked the memory cartridges from polling places to the county elections office.
In King County, Washington Kathleen Wynne stationed herself at one of the depots, drop-off sites, what have you, where she observed optical scan machines being tossed around and memory card handling in the dark of night.
In New Hampshire, we followed a van driven by "Butch and Hoppy" as they careened around the state picking up ballot boxes, delivering them after dark to a state archive building.
PREPARATION
Don't even bother if you don't take video of this. Collect evidence, not anecdotes.
1. Get at least one video camera for each vehicle and practice with it before you need it. Get the best zoom lens, remote audio and night vision adjustments you can, if you have a choice. Otherwise, just get any video camera and go.
2. Get enough recordable media -- mini DVs, disks, or whatever your camera takes. Plan for enough to capture 3-5 hours worth of video.
3. Bring your charger cord. Bring full batteries.
4. Get a converter. This will let you plug in your camera, charge it, whatever while in the car. The converter plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives you ordinary electrical outlets to plug in cameras, laptops, cell phone chargers, what have you. Available at Radio Shack for about $79. Looks like this:
(Keep the engine running while the converter is charging, it can drain the battery with car turned off).
You can also plug in your laptop to the converter.
5. Which reminds me: Bring your laptop. You may want to upload photos or comments live while you're there. Download the free Google Earth program before you go, if you get a chance. You can use Google Earth in the car to help find your way, if you have a Verizon card or something like it, enabling you to get online in the car. If you don't have the internet card, just Google Earth the directions view and, once the screen is up (where you have internet) you will still be able to view it, zoom in, out, up, down, left right while offline. The satellite view in Google Earth is especially helpful.
6. Bring cell phones.
7. Set the date/time on your camera!
STAFFING THE CHAIN OF CUSTODY TRACKING TEAM
Best if you have two vehicles with two people each. Each vehicle should have cell phones and video. It is not unusual for the vote transport squad to drive over the speed limit and/or take evasive maneuvers to try to ditch citizens who are simply monitoring the transfer of the votes from one place to another. Two vehicles will help you find them if you can't see which way they turned.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VIDEO AND DRIVE AT THE SAME TIME! Do not endanger others. One person should drive, the other person should video.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE TRANSPORT VEHICLE
1. Be at the drop-off points or your target location at least 15 minutes before the polls close. (Note: You cannot video during voting and in Florida and Texas, they may try to prevent you from video AFTER the polls close, but that only applies to inside the polling place.)
Position your vehicle(s) so that you can see all routes the transport vehicle may leave from. Park so that you can follow promptly when they go.
2. You may want to bring snacks and water, -- but not too much water, there may be no bathroom breaks. (Or else, bring some “Depends”!!!) In cold weather, bring a blanket in case you get stranded.
3. If possible, before they leave, approach the driver, on videotape, and ask where they are going. Ask them after they leave each stop, which place they are going to next. ASSUME COOPERATION AND AVOID CONFRONTATIONAL BEHAVIOR.
4. One vehicle needs to follow close. The other can be a little bit behind. Stay in contact by cell phone. If the second car misses seeing where the transport vehicle turns, call them & let them know where to turn to help everyone stay together
5. Try to keep your video camera running all the time. You never know when something happens that should be recorded. That way you can't forget to hit the "record" button. Tape everything.
6. Keep a written "log" of each location visited, mark down the time you arrived and note activity. Get video on any ballot boxes, memory card pouches, etc. Use your zoom to capture as many location names/tracking numbers as you can.
7. If the transport vehicle speeds, take video of speed limit signs if you can and take a video shot of the speedometer and document with audio on the videotape.
At the next stop, videotape as you point out the speeding violations and request on tape that they stay within the speed limit.
8. Be on the alert for these evasive maneuvers which may be attempted: Pulling into a parking lot of a store or business, then circling around and making a left turn just ahead of traffic that will get between you and the transport vehicle; Circling round the same spot repeatedly; speedy driving through back roads and residential areas.
Any time the transport vehicle stops, park your car into a position that will allow a hasty exit offering either a right OR left turn, as you will not know which way they are going until they may "turn on a dime".
Note any locations where you encounter evasive maneuvers.
9. Be aware that some of the areas they stop have more than one way in and out, EVEN IF NOT OBVIOUS. NEVER let the vehicle out of your sight—what appears to be them "turning around" to go out the front driveway, might really be them circling around the back to elude you out the back driveway.
10. Be aware that if you run a red light or speed, you may be ticketed.
11. Be sure to record:
- Liasons, meetups, or rendezvous with other vehicles
- Extra stops
- Anything they don't seem to want you to see
WHAT TO VIDEO
- Closeups of the faces of each person working at the drop-off point or in the intake area of election headquarters
- Zoom in on ballot boxes and memory card/poll tape pouches. Record (and speak aloud) each tracking number you see
- Conversations of people at the drop off sites or elections headquarters as they speak with each other, especially if they are huddling over some problem or trying not to let people hear.
- License plates, make and model of cars of people handling and/or transporting votes.
- Ballot/memory card handling procedures
- Any incident that endangers the public safety (We watched "Butch and Hoppy" speed through a school zone with lights flashing and children present)
- Any situation where ballot boxes or memory cards are handled not in clear public view.
- If you are told not to videotape, record them telling you not to tape, but abide by their request to avoid having your camera confiscated.
- In California, Florida, Washington, Oregon, and many other Super Tuesday states, it is illegal to record voices secretly. It's a serious offense. Don't do it. You can look up whether secret audio is permitted in your state by searching for the term "single party consent".
- IF YOU ARE STANDING IN THE PUBLIC AREA, IN FRONT OF THE COUNTER, you can videotape even if they tell you it is not permitted. The ban against secret audio recording only applies in locations where there is an expectation of privacy, and the public area of a public elections office during a public election is not a location where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists. Bear in mind that a popular obstruction strategy nowadays is for government officials to block, confiscate or even arrest, then after it is too late, drop charges or say "oops."
Don't provide ammunition for camera confiscation. Be polite and respectful and follow directives.
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR VIDEO
Learn to download it to your computer -- or just get help from someone who knows how, ask a high school kid.
Windows XP has an update patch with a free program called MovieMaker that is really easy to use to edit your film.
Keep an intact copy of your film and, if you capture something very important, get a copy made on the same media on which you originally recorded it, as soon as possible. Put the copy in a safe place.
You can edit your film into clips and post on YouTube, Google Videos, etc.
Your film can also be very helpful when anomalies are discovered. For example, in New Hampshire, Nashua Ward 5 had very significant anomalies. Later, looking at my film, I saw that a Nashua Ward 5 ballot box arrived ripped open, too large for its reported contents, and with its reported contents not matching the dispatch sheets.
You may want to request public records, or just request to videotape, any intake forms or dispatch records.
- Time/date
- Tracking numbers
- Signatures
- Faces of who was there
- Locations
- Information on results, poll tapes, number of ballots etc.
YOU MAY NOT REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE IS IMPORTANT
Quite often, you will catch something on video that does not become important until days, weeks, or even months later.
INDEX YOUR VIDEO
Always record on each tape or disk the date, time, and subject so you can identify it easily.
The next day, quickly look at your video and record what it contains -- at least in broad strokes -- so you can find what you need later.
SHARE YOUR VIDEO
Agree among those on your team that you will each share video with the other. Share important footage with the public via Internet, and with news reporters, voting rights groups and, if appropriate, law enforcement agencies.
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Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 7569
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 4 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 2:36 pm: |
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The following was circulated by Riverside County, Calif. Registrar of Elections Barbara Dunmore. I have printed her comments in black and our response in red.
From: Dunmore, Barbara
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 12:08 PM
Subject: RECENT INTERNET PUBLICATION re: Following Transport Vehicles
Importance: High
The Registrar of Voters wants to bring to your attention a recent internet publication posted on the "Black Box Voting" website entitled, the "Citizen's Guide to Following Vote Transport Vehicles."
We are concerned that, while the motives of the authors may be well intentioned, they run the risk of inciting the public to commit acts that maybe violations of the law or hazardous to public safety.
(From BBV): We also say "Be aware that if you run a red light or speed, you may be ticketed" and "Two vehicles will help you find them if you can't see which way they turned" and " DO NOT ATTEMPT TO VIDEO AND DRIVE AT THE SAME TIME! and "Do not endanger others".
Essentially, the Guide (attached)advises the public to recruit two "chase" cars to follow our citizen volunteers and video tape them delivering the ballots from the collection centers to our central counting site on Gateway Dr. However, some of the specific actions recommended can be hazardous, illegal and intimidating.
(From BBV Admin): Actually, it is about how to "follow" not how to "chase." The word "chase" implies recklessness; the word "follow" implies more prudence.
Some of the hazardous actions recommended include, "One vehicle needs to follow close" and "NEVER let the vehicle out of your sight." How close? Our U-Haul trucks are 13'6" high and often must slow dramatically, just to make a simple right hand turn. Who's liable should a citizen, following The Guide, have an accident? What will the impact be on the election results if one of the U-Hauls is involved in a traffic accident?
(From BBV admin): Since it also says not to speed, run red lights, or endanger others, the context of "follow close" simply means try not to let a lot of vehicles get in between you and the transport vehicle. And if it is a U-Haul, does this even apply to poll worker volunteers? It sounds like Dunmore is referring to the collection center here, but to poll workers elsewhere.
Ironically, The Guide advises chasers to record any "incident that endangers public safety."
(From BBV Admin) Correct. The followers (not "chasers") are NOT the ones endangering public safety when transport vehicles are speeding or performing evasive maneuvers. While in New Hampshire, we observed transport vans speeding through school zones with lights flashing, children present doing nearly 30 mph over the speed limit. We did not speed. They did. Yes, record any incident that endangers public safety and report it, and if possible, also ask the driver to stop doing it.
Illegal behavior, if not encouraged, is at least excused, as in the above admonition to follow closely.
(From BBV Admin): No. Following closely while not endangering others, speeding, or running red lights is not "encouraging or excusing illegal behavior."
In the unwarranted assumption that any of our volunteers may speed, the guide recommends that the chase car exceed the speed limit in order to "video tape the speedometer." Later in the guide it states that chase cars should be "aware that if you run a red light or speed, you may be ticketed."
(From BBV Admin): In reality, when FOLLOWING (not "CHASING") a transport vehicle, you tend to go the same speed. Sometimes you may notice that you're speeding! If so, grab a video clip of the speedometer, slow down, then report the transport vehicle for speeding and if possible, address the issue with them as well.
Several intimidating actions are recommended in the guide, for example, "approach the driver, on videotape, and ask where they are going";
(From BBV admin): It suggests doing this BEFORE they leave. If it is no secret where they are going, they'll just tell you the public information. If they don't want to tell you, there's a problem isn't there? Usually they tell you. This helps take the pressure off while following them, by the way, because if they round a bend or go over a hill you have more confidence that you know where they're headed.
Film "Close-ups of the faces of each person working...";
(From BBV admin): Correct. If people have hands-on access to the chain of custody, their identities are relevant.
record "conversations of people [...] as they speak with each other";
(From BBV Admin): in public areas. Where they have no expectation of privacy. And specific to those who have access to the chain of custody.
videotape "License plates, make and model of cars of people handling and/or transporting votes"
(From BBV Admin): Correct. The identities of vehicles and people transporting votes is relevant and in the public interest.
and "...look up whether secret audio is permitted in your state."
(From BBV Admin): Actually, this is within the context of an admonition NOT to secretly tape record unless you have ascertained that it is legal.
Our Riverside County Volunteers are average citizens who've taken time away from family and careers in order to serve their community in one of the most important functions of a democratic society. Do we now have to issue warnings that they may be subjected to video "close-ups" as they volunteer? That their personal vehicle's "license plate, make and model" of car may be recorded?
(From BBV admin): If they plan on transporting election cartridges, ballots, what have you, you should advise them that they are a critical link in the chain of custody and you should advise them that this is a public function.
Many of our poll-workers are minor students, working under the auspices of the Secretary of State's Student Poll Worker program. Do we have to warn parents that their children will subjected to this intense scrutiny? Imagine what your response would be if a total stranger was standing outside of any public facility taking close-ups of minors and recording license plates and vehicle descriptions.
(From BBV Admin): Since we begin the article by stating that the collection points and the main election headquarters are the places of most interest, we are rarely talking about volunteers here. Is Dunmore saying that she staffs the collection centers with volunteers? I doubt it. The only reason to follow a poll worker driving supplies would be to find out whether they go directly to the drop off site, which is appropriate, by the way, but the most interesting situations will always be when one set of people is transporting multiple precincts, as when the collection center people transport everything to HQ.
And as for minors - LOL. Is Dunmore saying that she tells high school kids to take over the chain of custody and drive the ballots and cartridges around town? This is misdirection.
The entire article pertains to the transport vehicles, not to the general public or the poll workers. More misdirection.
In February 2005, such aggressive maneuvers as are recommended in this Guide resulted in numerous complaints from citizen volunteers of activists tailgating, speeding along side vehicles, and so un-nerving the volunteers that they became disoriented, missing turns and losing their bearings.
(From BBV admin): I actually have no idea what she is referring to. Is there anything in the public record on this?
Several volunteers, dedicated servants to their community, resigned that night and advised the Registrar that they would never again work another election.
(From BBV admin): I assume if this is true it would be found in the public record?
Finally The Guide assumes throughout that our Riverside County Volunteers, who have volunteered to work for long hours and a meager stipend, are engaged in some sort of cloak and dagger conspiracy. It is simply vulgar and insulting to impugn the motives of the more than 3,000 volunteers who make Riverside County elections possible.
(From BBV Admin): Is she saying that 3,000 different people transport the cartridges? The emphasis is on the drop-off sites or collection sites, and monitoring chain of custody is good citizenship, and is only "insulting" if the elections official wants secrecy.
Chasers are warned that it "is not unusual for the vote transport squad to drive over the speed limit and/or take evasive maneuvers to try to ditch" chasers. The guide goes on to warn chasers to be "on the alert for these evasive maneuvers which may be attempted: Pulling into a parking lot of a store or business, then circling around and making a left turn just ahead of traffic that will get between you and the transport vehicle; circling round the same spot repeatedly; speedily driving through back roads and residential areas." Chasers are cautioned that drivers may "turn on a dime" and to note "any locations where you encounter evasive maneuvers." Accusations are leveled that "what appears to be them 'turning around' to go out the front driveway, might really be them circling around the back to elude you out the back driveway."
(From BBV admin): Again, she uses the word "chasers" instead of "followers". There is a semantic difference. "Chasing" implies speeding, "following" implies lawful activity.
Chasers are directed to record "anything they don't want you to see" and any conversations volunteers are "trying not to let people hear."
(From BBV Admin): Again, she adds the word "volunteers" when most of the individuals involved are paid staff of the elections division. Paid public servants or those charged with handling chain of custody should be informed that everything they do is public while on duty.
Finally The Guide states that "a popular obstruction strategy nowadays is for government officials to block, confiscate, or even arrest..."
(From BBV Admin): She leaves out the "and then say OOPS!" In other words, a strategy is to unlawfully detain, wrongfully confiscate, and afterwards drop charges or say it was an accident. In the mean time, the goal of obstruction is achieved.
These accusations and hazardous behaviors are not warranted or even necessary. The Registrar has made every effort to construct a process that's open, safe, and secure. Attached to this email, in addition to the "Citizen's Guide to Following Vote Transport Vehicles" is a copy of our collection center map, showing the locations of all 22 collection centers in Riverside County. Also attached is a list of the location addresses and our collection center procedures.
(From BBV admin): Good. Unfortunately, that is not available in every location in the nation. In locations with a collection center map, that's the place to monitor, along with the transport from the collection center to elections headquarters
There is no mystery where our drivers are going: once they leave the collection center, they drive directly to the Registrar of Voter's Gateway office. The risky behaviors advocated in the guide are strictly prohibited in our collection center procedures. The assumption of dark motives on the part of our volunteers, drawn from all communities and of every political persuasion, is simply unfounded.
(From BBV Admin): If risky behaviors are prohibited of tranport staff, then if such behaviors are witnessed, they should be reported, correct? When we saw such behaviors in New Hampshire, we first requested directly to the drivers that they stop such actions, and also reported it to the secretary of state. Thus doing a good public service.
There is no assumption of either dark motives or pure motives, simply citizen oversight to monitor and document. This acts as a deterrent and a safeguard at the same time.
By the time we were on our third day of following the transport van in New Hampshire, they were waving to us, and courteously telling us their next stop before leaving.
We hope that by directing your attention to this Guide and providing you with actual procedures, locations, and guidance given to our many volunteers, you are better informed of the mechanics of democracy and our efforts toward an open, safe, and secure election process.
As always, if I can provide any further information, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Barbara Dunmore
Registrar of Voters
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Hal Guentert
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Antifraud
Post Number: 28
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 1 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 9:31 pm: |
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It is nice to see an election official concerned enough to compose a ludicrous commentary in an attempt to discourage oversight of the election process.
Her fellow Californian, Ronald Reagan made some appropriate quotes:
"Trust, but verify." (It is a translation of the Russian proverb "doveriai, no proveriai".)
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children what it was once like in the United States when men were free."
"Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."
"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors."
Reagan Humor:
"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."
"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." |
From the Mailbag
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Mailbag
Post Number: 209
Registered: 10-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 11:22 pm: |
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(From Brad Friedman)
Ms. Dunmore:
Please consider this a public records request for the "numerous complaints from citizen volunteers" you reference above. If a more formal request is necessary, hopefully Tom Courbat can serve as our agent for such a request, and if electronic versions of the "numerous complaints" mentioned are not available, please allow him Mr. Courbat to pick up those records from your office as soon as possible.
We'll likely be covering this story at The BRAD BLOG and, of course, would like to be able to verify the claims you mention above.
I look forward to reviewing those records, and feel free to call me if you have any questions or additional comments.
Thank you for your timely assistance here, as well as for your efforts towards transparent, accurate and safe elections.
Best,
Brad Friedman
Publisher/Editor, The BRAD BLOG
http://www.BradBlog.com |
Brant Lamb
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Brantl
Post Number: 1836
Registered: 1-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, February 1, 2008 - 7:06 am: |
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If Brad's tongue is any more firmly in his cheek, he'll never be able to speak again..... |
Karen Nelson
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Kankan
Post Number: 5
Registered: 1-2008
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, February 1, 2008 - 11:34 am: |
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To me, Riverside County, Calif. Registrar of Elections Barbara Dunmore's memo begs the following questions:
If you are an election official interested in clean elections, why would you ever so strongly and negatively object to citizen observation of elections, especially when proposed in such an open, reasonable, and legal fashion?
If you were a clean election official and you found some small things in BBV's guide slightly at odds with efficient elections, wouldn't you directly and openly express your comments in a civil way to BBV and BBV's site's forums rather than penning a derogatory-in-tone memo and underhandedly circulating it only internally (I presume)?
If you were a clean election official, wouldn't you tend to welcome reasonable and well-informed citizen oversight as a "no-cost", extra layer of election security and coordinate with their efforts. Wouldn't this be the best way to ensure safe, non-disruptive public verification of elections? Wouldn't a clean election official tend towards a cooperative stance with "well-intentioned" citizen's groups rather than maligning them and working cross purposes to them?
If you were a clean election official, wouldn't you be very, very busy before Super Tuesday worrying about much higher priority threats to elections than one organization's very recently posted internet guide? If you were a clean elction official, would you consider this guide a major, high-priority threat?
If you were a clean election official, would you (with such lightning-like efficiency) take the time to pen such a lengthy, nitpick of trivial issues in one small guide, during one of the most hectic times in the California elections? (I presume somebody had the time to monitor this site closely to find the guide very soon after it was posted Tuesday afternoon, and then write a very invovled response, and circulate it, all in less than two days of the guide's posting, a curious priority)
However, if I was an election official who was not concerned with clean elections, say I was neglient in my duties and didn't want to be exposed or even worse, I wanted to allow election rigging, isn't this guide just the sort of thing I would give priority to and isn't this just the sort of memo I would write?
If I were a negligent or dirty election official, wouldn't I want to closely watch citizen watchdog groups websites to see their plans to observe me? Wouldn't I go out of my way at a busy time to poison the election staff's opinion of citizen watchdogs, likely getting sincere, well-intentioned staff unwittingly conforming to my agenda of keeping election as secret as possible and thwarting legal observers?
Who does Ms. Dunmore's actions and priorities appear to more closely confrom with?
In my opinion, Ms. Dunmore accomplished nothing with this memo other than shamelessly exposing herself and providing even more incentive for citizen watchdogs to even more closely monitor election activities in Riverside County. |
Randal Divinski
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Randydiv
Post Number: 16
Registered: 1-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, February 1, 2008 - 11:53 am: |
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I googled "Riverside County", "2005", and "resignation" and found a match: Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned in that year after pleading guilty to bribery and tax evasion (...but apparently not after being followed closely be election protection volunteers.) |
Tom Courbat
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Leftisbest
Post Number: 85
Registered: 6-2006
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 1 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, February 1, 2008 - 3:35 pm: |
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Actually Randy "Duke" Cunningham was a congressman from CA District 50, located in San Diego County, our neighbor to the south. His replacement, Brian Bilbrae, another Republican, was flown back to Washington, D.C. in then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert's private jet prior to the official results of the election, and with 60,000 votes yet to be counted, and installed into the Republican congress by Dennis Hastert.
When the action was challenged in San Diego Court, the Speaker informed the Judge that he (the judge)had no jurisdiction in the case, as once someone is sworn in as a congressman, ONLY the House of Representatives can determine whether he stays or goes. Thus, parties (generally those in charge) can swear in candidates before the final official results and then everything after that is moot. Isn't that a great election system we have here in the democratic republic of the United States of Amerika?
By the way, I believe Bev is going to post my response to ROV Dunmore soon. I think you will all find it to be of interest. |
From the Mailbag
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Mailbag
Post Number: 210
Registered: 10-2005
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 4 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Friday, February 1, 2008 - 8:30 pm: |
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(from Tom Courbat - response to Barbara Dunmore)
(Photo provided by Tom Courbat (taken by Paul Jacobs), SAVE R VOTE, Riverside Calif.)
Dear Election Observer Panel, Board Members and Ms. Dunmore,
My involvement in this Black Box Voting Citizens Guide of 1/28/08 was limited to the provision of the photo of the irresponsible action of placing red transport bags in the back of an open bed pickup truck for transport from a Riverside County collection center - which photo Ms. Dunmore conveniently failed to show in her one-sided transmittal. Once this was seen by the BOS and the Blue Ribbon Committee, this practice was stopped.
Bev Harris, founder of the non-partisan organization Black Box Voting, has written me apologizing for inadvertently listing my name, even though it only said "with Tom Courbat" which could imply that I was one of the authors of that portion of the guide, which I was not.
Ms. Dunmore knows that SAVE R VOTE did not exist in February 2005, yet she implies that somehow SAVE R VOTE was involved in "tailgating, speeding along side vehicles, and so un-nerving the volunteers that they became disoriented, missing turns and losing their bearings." She knows this was not associated with SAVE R VOTE, that SAVE R VOTE has never participated in such irresponsible actions, yet she "shades the truth into darkness" (as she loves to say) to the degree of implying guilt by association (it's tough being responsible for something before you are even born!). So let's put those implied allegations to rest immediately.
However, I will say that in March 2007, county workers raced at speeds sometimes exceeding 90 mph from the Desert Hot Springs Election site to the Gateway office with voting machine memory cards. This was determined based upon time of departure from the Senior Center in DHS and time of arrival at Gateway. THAT is irresponsible and reckless behavior, and it wasn't by SAVE R VOTE! But these actions need to be documented or they "didn't happen".
Ms. Dunmore inserted the inflammatory word "chase" eight times in her portrayal of the content of the Citizen Guide. Ms. Dunmore knows that that word NEVER appears in the guide - but rather the word "follow". In a number of jurisdictions, including Riverside County, vehicles leaving the precinct have NOT driven directly to the collection center or to Gateway. On a couple of occasions the drivers arrived in two hours when the driving time was only one hour. When carrying cargo as precious as our votes, taking an hour side trip can only lead to questions of what was happening to the ballots or memory cards in the "lost hour". It is totally appropriate for observers to "follow" (not "chase" or "tailgate" or "speed along side") vehicles transporting something much more valuable than cash. The purpose of following transport vehicles is to be able to assure they arrive directly without any outside intervention.
This leads to the very important issue of documenting activities that do not comply with election code, regulations and procedures. SAVE R VOTE has ALWAYS been professional and courteous and business-like in how our activities are conducted. We have not always had that same courtesy returned to us, although in the majority of cases, election workers and middle management have been extremely professional and courteous. There is no organization, no government entity, no audit firm that effectively monitors the goings on of the Registrar of Voters activities. While the Blue Ribbon Committee recommended an immediate and full-scale audit of security procedures of the ROV (machines left unguarded for up to a week before elections, etc.), the BOS has not seen fit to follow through on this important recommendation.
Therefore SAVE R VOTE monitors and reports on ways the ROV can improve compliance with both the spirit and the letter of the law, regulations and directives. As a result of these SAVE R VOTE recommendations, nearly two dozen improvements/compliances have been implemented in the ROV office, all without the need to file legal actions for compliance. An occasional visit by Secretary of State staff for a few hours on Election night (which happens only very randomly) does not constitute any kind of oversight or audit. The internal audit of the "books" of the ROV by the County Auditor does not constitute an audit of the security nor the efficiency nor compliance with the election laws by the ROV office. There is simply no significant public accountability of this office, and by the ROV's reaction, it appears clear there is no desire to be watched and reported on in any manner.
For the ROV to take the hours it must have required to prepare the 1,000 word missive below, with only 5 days remaining until the election, demonstrates the priorities placed on attacking those who would monitor the government, as opposed to preparing for the important tasks to take place on February 5th.
Ms. Bev Harris has provided a specific response to each of Ms. Dunmore's innuendos and allegations at http://blackboxvoting.org/ where it is currently the lead story. Should you come upon this when another story replaces it in the lead, go to
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/71620.html
for the story, and reactions to it. Please feel free to leave your comments with your real name, as BBV requires participants to identify themselves correctly, as you would to your neighbor or friends.
A couple of quotations seem appropriate at this juncture.
Patriots are not revolutionaries trying to overthrow the government. Patriots are counter revolutionaries trying to prevent the government from overthrowing this Constitutional Republic.
- Thomas Jefferson.
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." - Voltaire (1694-1778)
One last point. The true "volunteers" here are those members of SAVE R VOTE and the EOP who serve countless hours, day in and day out, in an effort to make our elections the most transparent, secure, accurate and verifiable they can possibly be. We all work for no compensation. The services of the poll workers are very very much appreciated and needed, but according to Dictionary.com, a volunteer is "a person who performs a service willingly and without pay." The poll workers do receive a minimal stipend of approximately $100 per election worked - certainly not nearly enough to compensate them for their valuable service - but a token compensation nonetheless.
If the 200 true volunteers of SAVE R VOTE were paid a $100 stipend by the county for their service provided to monitor the election, the county would be paying $60,000 (3 elections X $100 X 200) this year alone. And we give up "time away from family and careers in order to serve their community", just as Ms. Dunmore indicates the poll workers do. And our work is no less important, for if the process cannot be validated, there is nothing but "hope" and "trust" to base it on. As Ronald Reagan said, "Trust, but VERIFY"
There should be no need for further response, as the allegations and innuendos have been exposed and addressed, both above and in the especially
at the Black Box Voting http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ Website.
Tom Courbat
Written as an individual not representing the EOP or SAVE R VOTE or any other organization. Just a citizen who happens to be a member of both
organizations and who cares enough to set the record straight.
"People in an open society do not demand infallibility from their institutions, but it's difficult for them to accept what they are prohibited from observing." - Houston Chronicle |
Angela Ryan
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Alryan
Post Number: 1
Registered: 1-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, February 2, 2008 - 8:19 pm: |
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I am trying to get the word out to as many people as I can on what you are doing. Thank you for all of your efforts! |
Bev Harris
Board Administrator
Username: Admin
Post Number: 7578
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, February 2, 2008 - 8:56 pm: |
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Hi, Angela, and welcome to Black Box Voting.
You'll also find very helpful information in our free "Citizens Tool Kit" - http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.html |
Brant Lamb
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Brantl
Post Number: 1847
Registered: 1-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 - 4:32 am: |
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quote:If you were a clean election official, wouldn't you tend to welcome reasonable and well-informed citizen oversight as a "no-cost", extra layer of election security and coordinate with their efforts. Wouldn't this be the best way to ensure safe, non-disruptive public verification of elections? Wouldn't a clean election official tend towards a cooperative stance with "well-intentioned" citizen's groups rather than maligning them and working cross purposes to them?
No, just like anyone else, having someone uninvited looking over your shoulder tends to irritate you. Ask Kurt. Also, elections officials aren't fully in charge of a "clean" election,some of the problems that voters have is from not doing what they're told, some poll workers (some at least, by honest mistakes) not doing what they're told or supposed to do, and some by the confluence of the other two. Ask Kurt.
That said, the reasoned response isn't the rude response that was met here. But the first response really is "Why are you watching me? Don't you trust me?", this is the personal response we're all supposed to subliminate/suppress in our jobs. But it is the first response. We all need to keep that in mind, and do what we can to minimize triggering it. |
Robert S. Whitehorn
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Rodomonte
Post Number: 3
Registered: 9-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 - 9:40 am: |
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The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), of which the United States is a full-fledged member, sent election representatives to monitor the federal election in 2004. What little I have found about this effort suggests that it was a very small effort and poorly executed (however, I have no idea whether the reports I have read fairly characterize what happened). It seems clear that the validity of our elections has the potential to be an even greater issue in 2008 than in the two previous presidential elections. Is the OSCE going to monitor our 2008 election? |
V. Kurt Bellman
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Formerelecdir
Post Number: 1988
Registered: 4-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 - 10:00 am: |
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Robert,
OSCE has no standing with our individual states, who make the decisions regarding the ability to monitor elections. It is meaningless for the United States to belong to a group like OSCE.
As long as elections are run by Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and Florida, and Texas, and California, etc., etc., what the United States wants done means, umm, "nada". |
Marian Beddill
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Uu7thprinciple
Post Number: 132
Registered: 8-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 - 10:15 am: |
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Kurt;
In a narrow, legalistic sense you are right (so far). The states make their own laws for elections.
But in a practical sense, imposition of Federal conditions for sweetheart money by the Feds if you do it "their" way, is bringing in a swing towards significant federal semi-control of elections. It already happened with HAVA money to buy DRE's.
Marian
Marian
http://NoLeakyBuckets.org
|
Brant Lamb
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Brantl
Post Number: 1856
Registered: 1-2005
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 - 10:45 am: |
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That makes it look like it might affect purchases much more than protocol, Marian. |
V. Kurt Bellman
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Formerelecdir
Post Number: 1989
Registered: 4-2006
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 - 11:06 am: |
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Marian,
You're part right but you missed the key part of HAVA. It wasn't the money. It was the mandates.
The only offer was 1) take the money and do it our way now, or 2) don't take the money and be forced to do it our way later with your own money.
You can try to quibble with that, but that is exactly how states saw it. The mandates were there whether or not you took the money. So...you take the money. |
Karen Nelson
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Kankan
Post Number: 6
Registered: 1-2008
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Monday, February 4, 2008 - 3:59 pm: |
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Brant,
Thanks for the explanation of the irritated reaction of clean election staff to oversight, that makes a lot of sense. As you point out, it does make sense that we should be understanding of it in advocacy/oversight efforts. This seems an important problem, because it seems good, clean public officials often do bristle at even gentle oversight. If there are bad apples directing things behind the scenes, they could use this natural tendency of even good folks to their advantage. How does one deal with that, short of abandoning the oversight?
Also, I wonder, does the resistance to oversight endure in a sincere individuals, or do the wanting-to-do-the-right-thing types eventually, after an initial, annoyed reaction, accept oversight as reasonable? In my general experience, some of best proponents of organizational change are ones that are initially insulted by criticism because of their high standards/pride but eventually are great advocates for reform because of the high standards/pride.
An often reviewed public official, a cop, comes to mind as an example. Even though we don't want the many good cops to get demoralized by our constant gaze, it seems the public must insist on oversight of police because of the great authority we give them in the community. Nothing personal, but if you are going to wear a badge and carry a gun, you will have to bear the burden of constant review. So where does that leave us?
It seems to me that to make needed oversight palatable, it should be built into the system (part of the organizational culture) and done in a fair, objective, professional, standardized way. For instance, the video cameras in beat cop and state trooper cars seem to provide an open, fair, expected, and accepted aspect of oversight within those police forces using them.
I wish similar public oversight systems such as: video of key aspects of elections, rock-solid chain of custody procedures, paper ballots that can be reviewed, well-designed audits at precincts were just built into the culture of our election organizations and seemed normal and very important. Nothing personal, but if you are going to wear an election staff badge and carry ballots, you are going to bear the burden of constant review.
I know some election officials that have welcomed oversight, even sought it out. They seemed not to be irritated in the least about what citizen activists were doing but sought to use their knowledge and skills to assist in making clean elections. Unfortunately, some of those folks were fired for doing just that.
So on your point Brant, how accomodating should we be to this phenomenon or should we just persist knowing that is necessary and that some irritation is unavoidable until we change the whole system? |
Brant Lamb
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Brantl
Post Number: 1865
Registered: 1-2005
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 1 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 4:49 am: |
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I think the best one to ask on this is Kurt, he's been in that chair. I think that one of the first things to do is to commiserate with the elections officials (if this circumstance is true) over the lack of resources to do their vitally important jobs. I dont' think Kurt is wrong in that this department of our government is treated like an afterthought and squeeze-budgeted.
The other is for elections integrity activists to volunteer in the vote-counting/vote handling process. This is triple-edged and I think all edges cut for our cause. Nothing stops the bitching about being 'outsiders' more than when you stop being an 'outsider' and the elections officials then see us as being willing to do something benenficial, and we'll have experience and intimate knowledge to guide us in suggesting improvements.
I love the expression "Trust everyone, but always cut the cards."; I think we should use it in conjunction with this expression: "Because we'd really rather not be gambling with our votes, would we?".
quote:An often reviewed public official, a cop, comes to mind as an example. Even though we don't want the many good cops to get demoralized by our constant gaze, it seems the public must insist on oversight of police because of the great authority we give them in the community. Nothing personal, but if you are going to wear a badge and carry a gun, you will have to bear the burden of constant review.
Just keep in mind how much cops hate CID.
A lot of it has to do with how you use the language, too. If you can compliment them first on all that they do right, and give them an out ("Well, what else could they do on this budget? Get them more money, so they can do it right! Buy the good ballot containters!", etc.) and we may win some more over. And I think this works with both the best-practices-aiming guys and the get-alongs, too. The get-alongs, you can kill them with kindness. |
V. Kurt Bellman
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Formerelecdir
Post Number: 1994
Registered: 4-2006
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 6:27 am: |
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Brant,
You're right on the money here. No one likes to be approached with what does seem like an accusatory mindset.
What makes this difficult is that few people can tell the difference between the scrupulously honest but annoyed and the truly criminal. The differences can be very subtle.
There is a "circle the wagons" mentality among many elections officials against the "election integrity" movement, and that includes those elections officials who are pure as the driven snow. Election officials are tired of being seen in the light of criminal activity. They resent it very deeply.
Even such relatively benign-sounding references by people like Nancy Tobi using analysis like "motive and opportunity" is deeply offensive. It implies criminality.
Brant, yuo are right. Stop being outsiders. Stop thinking about election integrity only three weeks before each election. Make it a 365 day a year, all four years concern. Volunteer to work a poll. Voluteer to serve on advisory boards, which are empanelled every time something goes wrong in an election.
In short, try to make yourself part of the solution, not part of the problem. |
christine c reid
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ctwatcher
Post Number: 129
Registered: 12-2007
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 7:47 am: |
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I am not sure Nancy used that phrase, but I know I did. Sorry if I offended anyone. I very much want to be working with (not against) people who live and work election integrity 24/7.
What is an acceptable frame or terminology to use in order to discuss the conditions found that will allow elections officials to process and consider information that is surfaced?
AS to being part of solution or problem: I am grateful for any thoughtful participation of any kind in this work, and trust that different people will have different pathways that evolve over time, and can/must/will choose different ways of contributing.
I really don't want to distress honest elections officials, and I'm willing to be informed by feedback on language changes. I am also aware of the possibility that some people come here to use gambits, criticism of language among them, to sidetrack the discussion of the real issues raised.
So I'll bite Kurt, if people use the language you suggest, will elections officials accept any good information offered? How much do you think the rate of acceptance would improve with language changes? |
V. Kurt Bellman
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Formerelecdir
Post Number: 1996
Registered: 4-2006
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 8:49 am: |
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Christine,
Yes, somewhat. The best language approach is something like, "I'd like to help make improvements to processes so that virtually no one could be seen to have valid complaints about the integrity of elections."
Also, "If the solutions I support create other new problems, I'd like to help minimize those problems any way I reasonably can."
Also, you must acknowledge the following: "While everything may be on the up-and-up and just fine here, "I think it is in the best interest of everyone that even skeptics believe that elections are honest."
On one specific example, you remember the Riverside Co. registar's insistence on using the word "chase" and Bev Harris using "follow"? Well even less threatening sounding than "follow" is the inclusive-sounding "caravan".
Put yourself in the position of a SoS like Gardner, and informing him (or Butch and Hoppy), "We'd like to caravan with you during ballot transport." Tough to turn down.
Here's just a random thought: Does anyone remember the non-stop helicopter coverage of the Palm Beach County ballots transfer to Tallahassee in 2000? I do. The whole transport was observed, except for brief disappearances under overpasses.
(Message edited by Formerelecdir on February 5, 2008) |
V. Kurt Bellman
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Formerelecdir
Post Number: 1997
Registered: 4-2006
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 10:05 am: |
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One other point:
There are not two sides in this; "us" and "them". There are many "thems". You can create an "us" that includes the ministerial level election administrators. But trying to drive a wedge between those admins and vendors is probably pretty fruitless. The admins have other antagonists, like bad law and the people who make them, or refuse to improve them.
An approach that helps admins work better in an envoronment of "bad law" will win you friends among them.
Many admins really are dependent on their vendors, but not by their own choice often. Yes, some became willing shills for vendors, but only as one vs. another. Being dependent on a vendor is not something any admin is happy about. They view it neither as good, or bad, per se, but rather something necessary. |
Brant Lamb
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Brantl
Post Number: 1872
Registered: 1-2005
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 1:16 pm: |
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I have to tell you, it takes a lot of smoothing for someone to be comfortable with people looking over their shoulders on almost any job, unless it was set up that way from the inception of the job. And even then, people don't like it. It takes a rare person to be willing to brave the confrontation and not be confrontational. Language is a big part of it, and so is a baseline-cooperative mindset. |
christine c reid
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ctwatcher
Post Number: 134
Registered: 12-2007
Best of Black Box?
Votes: 2 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 1:29 pm: |
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"An approach that helps admins work better in an environment of "bad law" will win you friends among them. "
What are the areas where admins would most appreciate help in working in a bad law (or little codification?) environment? What are the simple day to day problems that they face repeatedly in your state, where people concerned about election integrity have overlapping interests with admins? Because addressing areas where admins already want help, and EI people also see would benefit from change, seems to be a path of commonality and easy place to synergize -- help the admins and move EI forward.
(Message edited by ctwatcher on February 5, 2008) |
christine c reid
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ctwatcher
Post Number: 146
Registered: 12-2007
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 4:20 pm: |
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Bev, maybe our extended side conversaton here could be moved elsewhere? -- I think it has value but is a sidetrack from your purpose in posting this thread. Sorry! |
Catherine Ansbro
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Catherine_a
Post Number: 4579
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 - 6:48 pm: |
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Move it but please keep it. I'm grateful to Christine, Brant, Kurt, Karen and others for their useful ideas concerning interactions with election staff and how they might best be approached. |
Joel Morine
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Erased
Post Number: 96
Registered: 1-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, February 9, 2008 - 5:48 am: |
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A series of excellent important points!
All the ways folk deal internally with
places they are directed to do what they or others see just cause to do differently
are sore spots for those who implement what others blueprint.
Deference respecting their directives' built-in dilemmas
is essential initial investment,
and also a due courtesy.
Painful dilemmas may be best appreciated implicitly?
Framing things as questions is also useful?
"Are there things I could do that you feel would help improve your processes so that virtually no one could be seen to have valid complaints about the integrity of elections?"
"Are there ways you feel I can help matters that aren't available to someone in your position?" |
Catherine Ansbro
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Catherine_a
Post Number: 4606
Registered: 12-2004
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Saturday, February 9, 2008 - 7:51 am: |
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quote:Framing things as questions is also useful?
"Are there things I could do that you feel would help improve your processes so that virtually no one could be seen to have valid complaints about the integrity of elections?"
"Are there ways you feel I can help matters that aren't available to someone in your position?"
Christine shows real mastery in how to frame things as questions and avoid giving offense.
And your questions are fantastic ones, Joel. I hope Kurt will give some feedback on the points you raise.
This website is a great place to develop not just in terms of one's knowledge about election systems, their integrity, and effective investigation, but also in personal expression in various contexts, and to learn about effective communication. |
Joel Morine
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Erased
Post Number: 97
Registered: 1-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2008 - 7:09 am: |
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Catherine,
I especially agree with yr first and third points.
Not everyone will agree with all of what Anais Nin says in this essay excerpt, but
the essential 'problem-->mission' statement certainly applies to what happens here:
---------------------------
The real meaning of the word “educate” is “to lead the way out,” and sometimes the artist has been able to do that unconsciously. He doesn’t despair. He doesn‘t say, as our pragmatic culture has said, that the world is the way it is, unchangeable, nothing can be altered. Instead, the artist has always said: “Although the world is like this, if I don’t like it, I can change it.” And he has changed it. He’s changed our music, he’s changed our painting. He’s changed our theatre, he’s changed our point of view in the novel. He changes every day. And it is because he believes that life is changeable, that it can be metamorphosed, and that it can be conquered, that he allies himself much more with the hero. The hero is the one who believes that he can conquer. But today we seem to have stopped believing that we can conquer. We have repudiated the idea of the hero.
We need this individuality to resist the contagion of negative states, and if there is anything I have observed in my visits to the colleges it was this combination of romantic and marvelous emotional openness to life, and occasionally this shadow underneath, a negative kind of rebellion--not liking what is, but never thinking about what must be done with this world to make it what you want it to be, nor even the strength of the creative will which says that one can make what is not there. And I’m not speaking only of the artist, because this starts from the making of a house to everything that we do in our lives. We need to see that the barriers are not there, that they are created by pragmatic reality and they are meant to be defeated by us.
The disease of our time is loss of faith, because the individual was made to feel so helpless and was so imbued with the idea of an unchanging reality, that his mind was filled with negativity. It is because we abdicated personal responsibility and personal orientation that we became passive in the face of destiny. We were overwhelmed by the great spaces opened by science and were overwhelmed by the machine, whereas everything could fall under our dominion and be a part of creation. Without this individual resistance, this individual core and axis, we are subject to group sickness, we are subject to collective neurosis. For neurosis, after all, is only a word for negativity.
So I want to create faith in you. There is a realm in which you are all-powerful, in which you are the captain of your soul. And ultimately this cell that you work at connects with millions of other cells. You project your inner reality into the external. But first you have to make your psychic core a reality. (from Lectures--Anais Nin, ed. Hinz, pp.3-5, a collection of lectures delivered on a tour of U.S. universities during early or mid-70s)
--------------------
Just as essential are Kurt's comments to Teri Berry in Citizen Reports à Calif Repub Primary Fri2/8noon.
“…Don't ever get wrapped up in "what's going to happen". Voters are people, with human frailties. Go and vote your conscience. Don't be dissauded from doing what your informed self-interest informs you to do.
…
There are reasons why we keep getting the same ol' same ol'. People change views, but not radically quickly. Everything takes time. Politics does not work like an oceanic tsunami. It's more like a tsunami of molasses. It takes a great deal of time sometimes. And it takes personal perseverance. Don't get discouraged. Get insistent, and persistent. All good things take time.”
When Teri says she's has little faith in the voting process:
the key question isn't whether what has been & is deserves one's faith...
the key question is does one add faith stepping up to community's collection plate...
My impression, by inference from her phrasing, is
?Teri's post sounds to me as if perhaps she found this a place that invited her to feel that key 2nd question could be taken more seriously than she felt it could before?
We see new folk every day or two here saying clearly they do find a faith-invite here.
Kurt's image of a molasses tsunami is apt essential to real-izing faith's aims.
Teri's reply is as apt an other half to stating the problem...but not a reason to not be adding, each our own, molasses.
With all the other IMO-degenerative agendas the Bush admin has fostered for 8yrs,
using a barrage of extreme incredibles to destroy our already 'challenged' faith in our nation as community seems to me an overarching goal in the sum of the other goals.
Elections are often about getting us to reinvest faith in other 'new' -- ?similarly hollow? -- vessels of faith?
How many of us are making our choice based on the question
'Which candidate has at least a minimal potential for caring about the country while doing the usual perps'work?'
In early primaries the potentials are larger...
Another of many big reasons reclaiming accountable integrity in the process is SO Important!!!
That's a first foremost place to invest faith in a purpose that can earn incrementing faith... |
Joel Morine
Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Erased
Post Number: 98
Registered: 1-2008
Best of Black Box? N/A
Votes: 0 (A keeper?) | | Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2008 - 7:18 am: |
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What I'd actually dropped in to say is...
Sensitivity to crucial pts made above Feb5th may be strong logistical cause for any candidate to be very reluctant to publicly push any of the pts folk make here abt accountable integrity in the election process. |
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