| Note from David Earnhardt, "Uncounted" filmmaker: Former Utah elections official and whistleblower Bruce Funk said it best, "I can’t think of anything more important to do with my life than to try and save our democracy." And now, as we get closer to a presidential election that has been preceded in both 2004 and 2006 by a blatant pattern of election fraud and voter disenfranchisement, his words never had more meaning.
We've been traveling with UNCOUNTED for many months, using it as a tool to organize and to educate about the importance of legislative efforts that could ensure the integrity of elections. But the time for legislation is over and our mission has changed - and has become critical.
Now, we realize, is the time for citizen vigilance. Now we must use the film to encourage people to ramp up their voter registration drives and get out the vote initiatives. Now is the time to encourage everyone to take responsibility for their vote and voting rights. Now, more than ever, people need to see the stories in UNCOUNTED that wake them up to the blatant attempts and successes of election fraud and disenfranchisement and motivate them to stand up and save our democracy.
To that end, each week we will release a clip from the film that will move people to do what Bruce Funk and Athan Gibbs and Steve Heller and Clint Curtis did - fight to save our democracy.
Please use these clips in your travels. Show them to the bleary-eyed and the uninspired and the skeptical. One person standing up on election day can make a difference. But imagine if there were millions? | | Week 1: The Ballad of Steve Heller
Click Here to Watch The Steve Heller Video All he was doing was his job when Steve Heller found "smoking gun proof" that an electronic voting machine manufacturer was using illegal uncertified software in their voting machines and were breaking the law in California because they knew it was illegal and uncertified. Steve then did the only thing a man of his character could do - he leaked the proof to someone who would know what it was and what to do with it, Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting.org. When Bev subsequently got the documents to Ian Hoffman who printed them in the Oakland Tribune, Steve thought, "Well, my work here is done." Uh, yeah, sure, if your work includes being prosecuted for several felonies by the Los Angeles County District Attorney. The Ballad of Steve Heller is one man's story of standing up for liberty, freedom, and democracy - and then getting his ass kicked for it.
FYI...Steve also contributed research and documentation to Article 29, "Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965," of Congressman Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment against President Bush. (Photo of Steve Heller, Bev Harris & Clyde) Click Here to Watch The Steve Heller Video --
Mary Mancini
Co-producer, UNCOUNTED http://www.uncountedthemovie.com |
