From Andi Novick: Dear friends,
I write to bring you up to date on the activities of the Election Transparency Coalition (ETC) to keep our safe transparent lever voting machines in New York State. If you have time for nothing else, please watch and circulate this short video, "It's Time to Take a Stand for our Democracy" at: http://nylevers.wordpress.com/ Since you last heard from us we have been working very hard: * We wrote letters to all the county legislatures and executives, providing them with the information they weren't otherwise receiving and encouraging them to pass resolutions in support of retaining our secure and transparent lever voting system. We currently have resolutions from 20 counties plus Nassau and Suffolk are in support of retaining levers, but can't pass this type of "sense of" resolution. * We also have similar resolutions from various unions, political clubs and other organizations; see the list at the site, http://nylevers.wordpress.com/. * We placed articles in dozens of newspapers throughout the state about the need to resist unconstitutional legislation forcing us to surrender our observable, fraud-deterring lever system for concealed, fraud-enabling computers. * After participating in a public forum with Commissioner Kellner and author Mark Crispin Miller, we made the video referenced above in order to publicize the issue more widely. * We became a project of the International Humanities Center, a 501(c )(3) organization, so that ETC can receive tax-deductible contributions to continue this fight. * We received a Statement of Support from national Election Integrity experts, see ETCNYS.org, in which they wrote: "We consider the New York litigation to be one of the best opportunities the nation has for serious judicial consideration of the constitutional implications of concealed vote counting." * We created a new website, NYLEVERS.nylevers.wordpress.com/, to compliment our blog, ETCNYS.org. The site provides current information regarding the resolutions and what you can do to help our efforts. Feel free to use the comparison chart between levers and scanners, http://nylevers.wordpress.com/chart/ as a handout and as a general reference piece. * We went to conferences and meetings to create relationships with our county governments and county boards of election. * We went to public hearings to present our case against vote counting by secretly programmed, exploitable computers. * We worked with others preparing comprehensive cost reports to demonstrate the steep costs that will fall on the counties once the conversion to computerized vote-counting systems is made. * We have over 2,000 signatures on a citizen petition and recently created a new site to make signing the petition easier. * We prepared litigation to have ERMA declared unconstitutional. * We reached out to law firms in New York State, inviting participation in this suit since a suit of this magnitude requires more legal resources than one attorney can handle alone. * We have reached out to experts we know in the field and have found many willing to testify at a trial, if necessary. * We continue to publish articles, the latest one that sums it all up is "Nullifying the Consent of the Governed": http://www.opednews.com/articles/New-York-s-New-Voting-Syst-by-andi-novick-090718-710.html Where things stand: * We have run out of money. * It has been very difficult to find a law firm that can afford to take this case on a pro bono basis, although a number of firms are considering making that sacrifice. Even if they are willing to provide legal services on a pro bono basis, there are other expenses of litigation that will need to be covered. What we need: * Legal help * Donations: <http://ihcenter.org/groups/re-mediaetc>http://ihcenter.org/groups/re-mediaetc * 10,000 more names on the petition. We created a new petition site because so many people had technical difficulties with the old site. Please sign this petition:http://www.petitiononline.com/etcnysls/petition.html (we'll worry about duplicates so don't worry if you can't recall if you signed the earlier petition) and circulate this petition widely. A third of the counties have passed resolutions and many other counties are in favor of retaining the levers even if they haven't passed a resolution. We should have equal representation amongst our citizens. Go to: http://www.petitiononline.com/etcnysls/petition.html Thank you all. Let's keep this alive and get into court. This is absolutely crunch time. Please contribute and help NOW. Also please watch the video, IT'S TIME TO TAKE A STAND FOR OUR DEMOCRACY, at - http://nylevers.wordpress.com/ - and forward it to others. Andi Novick The Election Transparency Coalition NYLEVERS.nylevers.wordpress.com/ ETCNYS.org More people have been elected between sundown and sunup than ever were elected between sunup and sundown. Will Rogers --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
