Ilene PRoctor
Press Contact: Ilene Proctor
Direct Line: (310) 858 6643
Cell: (310) 721.2336
E-mail: proctor@artnet.net
Contact:
Sally Castleman, Election
Defense Alliance (781) 454-8700
Jonathan Simon,
Election Transparency Coalition, (617)-538-6012
Sheila Parks, Ed.D., Center
for Hand-Counted Ballots, (617) 932-1464
Election
Experts Issue 'Orange Alert' for Massachusetts Special
Election
Groups
Urge Secretary of State Galvin to Take Action to Detect Election Tampering
LEXINGTON,
MA - Representatives of nonpartisan election
watchdog groups around the nation issued a last-minute 'orange alert,' warning
that tomorrow's Massachusetts special election to elect a
successor to the late Senator Ted Kennedy is ripe for manipulation. The groups
call on Secretary of State Galvin to take immediate extra security precautions
for the Senate race, which has become a high-stakes national contest. Critical
national initiatives such as health care reform and financial reform will be
influenced by the results of this election.
Unprecedented amounts
of out-of-state money has funded a media blitz, and recent seesawing polls
--some highly questionable--show Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha
Coakley now reported to be in a virtual toss-up.
Experts are
concerned that with the electronic election system in use, its lack of
transparency and ease of manipulation, the public has no basis for trust in
the accuracy and integrity of the election results. Confidence in election
outcome should be based on objective verification rather than government
reassurance, particularly when voting systems with so many known
vulnerabilities and so little ability for oversight are
employed.
"Now is the time for Massachusetts state election officials to
act. Now is the time for all citizens to act," said Sally Castleman,
Massachusetts voter and co-founder of
Election Defense Alliance.
Members of election integrity
organizations nationwide urge Secretary of State Galvin to take immediate
steps to increase transparency for this electronically tabulated
election.
Massachusetts
elections are programmed and serviced by New England Diebold affiliate LHS
Associates, a private company, located in Methuen, MA,
which alone controls the trade secret software and memory cards holding all
ballot and voting data. This data must be secured and held by Massachusetts election
officials, experts say.
Secretary of State Galvin must
immediately institute a policy and practice to ensure that public election
officials and not LHS
Associates maintain chain of custody over all ballots, voting
machines, database files, and memory cards. Only through public possession and
scrutiny of all election data can we ensure the integrity of election
results.
Alert citizens can help defend against election
shenanigans by volunteering as polling center watchdogs.
Election
Integrity expert Brad Friedman has warned that the outcome will rely on the
accuracy of votes tallied by the easily-hacked electronic Diebold/Premier
optical scan voting machines, featured in the film Hacking Democracy.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).