85 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 29 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
General News   

FINALLY: Someone is telling the U.S. Gov't where to put its e-voting

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   10 comments
Message Bev Harris
Become a Fan
  (5 fans)
Black Box Voting was invited to submit comments into the record for the United States Election Assistance Commission's Round Table, which featured and agenda entirely devoted to a what is basically a celebration of computerized vote-counting. We took this opportunity to tell it like it is.

Discuss this here: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/73717.html

To our great surprise and joy, so did others, including Dr. Rebecca Mercuri and Brad Friedman. Portions of some of their testimony will follow. Here are the formal comments from Black Box Voting:

EAC VOTING ADVOCATES ROUND TABLE: April 24, 2008

I have accepted your invitation to submit the following comments to be entered into the record on behalf of Black Box Voting, by its founder, Bev Harris.

To members of the EAC and participants of the Round Table:

The entire premise of technology-based elections is based on support for the "verifiable voting" concept. But before designing technology for elections, we must first determine how it will empower citizen controls, enabling the counting of votes in public rather than counting them in secret. We do not consent to any form of secret vote counting, administered and controlled by government insiders and their vendors.

Any system that forces the citizenry to trust government insiders to count their votes represents a change in the original design of this nation. The United States of America was designed to uphold the right of citizen sovereignty over the government. In addition to hiding the counting of votes from public view, computer-counted elections hide the chain of custody of the vote data. Citizens are never allowed to view the original input in order to compare it to the output, and are relegated to trusting circumstantial evidence controlled by insiders. Such a system is, in fact, a transfer of power.

The people were never asked to approve such a transfer of power, have never consented to it, and indeed CANNOT consent, because the right of sovereignty over the instruments of government which we have created is an inalienable right, one which CANNOT be given away, nor can this right be removed through legislation. It is, admittedly, possible for a government to decline to honor this right, but such an act would justify extreme measures by the people subjected to such abuse of power.

It is the public counting that is key to citizen sovereignty, not computer verification. "Verification" of a computer report is not at all the same as public vote counting.

The core of elections was and again must return to the principle of citizen sovereignty over government. Elections can never be based on a requirement to trust government insiders and their vendors to count our votes, nor can elections be dependent on experts to tell the citizenry that the system is okay, nor should the detailed mechanics of elections be impossible for the average citizen to understand. Models which depend on experts and insiders create centralized control, and remove all control from government's rightful owners – the citizens. This represents a violation of the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence.

Not only does my organization, Black Box Voting, refuse to participate in the design of such systems, but we will do our utmost to inform the populace that such systems must be revoked, by whatever means necessary.

"We do not consent."

Bev Harris
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057

* * * * *

And other comments:

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Bev Harris Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Bev Harris is executive director of Black Box Voting, Inc. an advocacy group committed to restoring citizen oversight to elections.
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Black Box Voting: WISCONSIN VOTE SPREAD 29,207? 7,500? Or 6,744?

2008 election results to be routed to private middlemen in Illinois, Colorado & Kentucky

Dear Maine GOP: 1+1+1 does not = 4. Official results are wrong

Racial Profiling on Tennessee Voter Reg Cards

Bev Harris: Actual Accenture Voter List Software Discovered and Downloadable to the Public

BIPARTISANLY YOURS: COAKLEY WON THE HAND COUNTS

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend