Concerned voters:
TrueVoteMD.org, is officially launching our recruitment drive for our statewide pollwatching program. Poll watchers will provide voters with surveys on the voting machines and report incidents on Election Day so we can develop a more complete picture of problems with paperless e-voting for the media, public education, litigation and informing legislators.
Why is Pollwatching Important This Year?
As TrueVoters know, Linda Lamone, head of the State Board of Elections, maintains that the Diebold voting system is accurate and secure - even though there is no way to make sure your vote has been counted or to conduct recounts or audits on these machines. We know that voters in MD reported that entire races were missing from their electronic ballots, that machines crashed and lost votes, and that machines switched votes.
We also know that the Attorney General of California is suing Diebold for fraud - i.e. for making fraudulent product claims i.e. that the machines accurately count votes! We know that a few weeks ago, an election had to be cancelled in Georgia because the Diebold system was crashing. We know that computer security expert Dr. Michael Wertheimer testified that it is safer to buy a book on Amazon than it is to vote in Maryland - and that this system is a security trainwreck.
Pollwatching is important ths year because - in order to continue to push for a paper trail and restore integrity to elections - we need citizens on the ground documenting real problems voters have at the polls to counter the misinformation from Diebold and the State of Maryland.
Paperless electronic voting is in fact a serious threat to our democracy and pollwatching is the frontlines work needed to defend it. We need citizen pollwatchers inside and outside the polling place. "Insiders" will be on the look out for distressed voters and voting machines. Outside pollwatchers will be handing out educational flyers to voters and inviting them to file 'incident reports' documenting any voting problem they experience, with the Diebold machines or anything else that arises.
In the event of a problem you will call in to TrueVote's Rapid Response Team and we will relay the information to the TrueVote Legal and Media Teams. We will do our best to provide immediate assistance to voters AND all information that we gather will be put into a national database to assist with efforts to improve election integrity for the future.
You can volunteer for any amount of time, even a few hours if that is all you have to spare! If you'd like to volunteer, TrueVoteMD has training sessions scheduled throughout the state in October to familiarize pollwatchers with all the information needed on Election Day such as:
Background information about TrueVoteMD.org and electronic voting problems
Information about legal issues regarding pollwatching
Basic guidelines for inside and outside pollwatchers
Instructions for how to#deal with challenges from election judges
Guidelines for educating voters and#dealing with opposing views
If you are interested in becoming a pollwatcher with TrueVoteMD.org, please go to http://www.truevotemd.org/take_action_watchers.asp to enter in your contact information and sign up for a training session. If you'd like more information, please contact Amanda Bowers at amanda@freshaircleanpolitics.org, or at 301-270-6150. Also, pollwatching is even more fun if you do it with friends. Ask them to join you and do their part in this November's election!
Charles County presently has no representation at True Vote Maryland. Please contact us ASAP if you can help!
Posted by Joyce Dowling
Southern Prince George's Co. Rep. for True Vote Maryland
TrueVoteMD.org, is officially launching our recruitment drive for our statewide pollwatching program. Poll watchers will provide voters with surveys on the voting machines and report incidents on Election Day so we can develop a more complete picture of problems with paperless e-voting for the media, public education, litigation and informing legislators.
Why is Pollwatching Important This Year?
As TrueVoters know, Linda Lamone, head of the State Board of Elections, maintains that the Diebold voting system is accurate and secure - even though there is no way to make sure your vote has been counted or to conduct recounts or audits on these machines. We know that voters in MD reported that entire races were missing from their electronic ballots, that machines crashed and lost votes, and that machines switched votes.
We also know that the Attorney General of California is suing Diebold for fraud - i.e. for making fraudulent product claims i.e. that the machines accurately count votes! We know that a few weeks ago, an election had to be cancelled in Georgia because the Diebold system was crashing. We know that computer security expert Dr. Michael Wertheimer testified that it is safer to buy a book on Amazon than it is to vote in Maryland - and that this system is a security trainwreck.
Pollwatching is important ths year because - in order to continue to push for a paper trail and restore integrity to elections - we need citizens on the ground documenting real problems voters have at the polls to counter the misinformation from Diebold and the State of Maryland.
Paperless electronic voting is in fact a serious threat to our democracy and pollwatching is the frontlines work needed to defend it. We need citizen pollwatchers inside and outside the polling place. "Insiders" will be on the look out for distressed voters and voting machines. Outside pollwatchers will be handing out educational flyers to voters and inviting them to file 'incident reports' documenting any voting problem they experience, with the Diebold machines or anything else that arises.
In the event of a problem you will call in to TrueVote's Rapid Response Team and we will relay the information to the TrueVote Legal and Media Teams. We will do our best to provide immediate assistance to voters AND all information that we gather will be put into a national database to assist with efforts to improve election integrity for the future.
You can volunteer for any amount of time, even a few hours if that is all you have to spare! If you'd like to volunteer, TrueVoteMD has training sessions scheduled throughout the state in October to familiarize pollwatchers with all the information needed on Election Day such as:
Background information about TrueVoteMD.org and electronic voting problems
Information about legal issues regarding pollwatching
Basic guidelines for inside and outside pollwatchers
Instructions for how to#deal with challenges from election judges
Guidelines for educating voters and#dealing with opposing views
If you are interested in becoming a pollwatcher with TrueVoteMD.org, please go to http://www.truevotemd.org/take_action_watchers.asp to enter in your contact information and sign up for a training session. If you'd like more information, please contact Amanda Bowers at amanda@freshaircleanpolitics.org, or at 301-270-6150. Also, pollwatching is even more fun if you do it with friends. Ask them to join you and do their part in this November's election!
Charles County presently has no representation at True Vote Maryland. Please contact us ASAP if you can help!
Posted by Joyce Dowling
Southern Prince George's Co. Rep. for True Vote Maryland
