Wow...Given what I know about San Diego's KOGO radio host, Roger Hedgecock --- a frequent fill-in for Rush Limbaugh, by the way --- I would have predicted a firefight between us concerning my arguments questioning the validity of the Busby/Bilbray U.S. House special election in California's 50th congressional district on June 6th.

You know, the one were the highly-hackable Diebold voting machines were sent home with poll workers for days prior to the election in defiance of both state and federal rules and laws, rendering them illegal and uncertified for use in the election.

Well, slap my bottom and call me Spanky!...Guess what? I just got off the air with him, and Hedgecock and I were in complete agreement! He may even turn up at next week's "Emergency Townhall" meeting on this which is currently being organized (details soon).

The full afternoon drive-time appearance, about 15 minutes, is linked below if you'd like to listen. But to give you a flavor, here's how it ended...

Were it not for other fairly unforgivable transgressions in the past in other areas politically, I might have otherwise given Roger the too-rarely bestowed BRAD BLOG "Intellectually Honest Conservative Award." If he decides, however, to show up and bring along a few thousand folks with him for next week's "Emergency Townhall" event in San Diego (details soon) --- as I've invited him to do --- I might even consider a "provisional" awarding of the highly coveted prize!

Listen up...
-- Brad on the Roger Hedgecock Show on Busby/Bilbray & Electronic Voting [MP3]

(AFTERTHOUGHT: For those interested in on-air firefights between myself and "conservatives," see my shoot-out with St. Louis' wingnut-in-training, Crane Durham here, or the time I helped run Ann Coulter off the air halfway through our debate on Ron Insana's show here.)

Sorry. Up to my neck in phone calls, media inquiries and all manner of related items in re: the Busby/Bilbray race for the moment. Looking forward to covering it here ASAP. But I can't do it all at the same time, unfortunately.

I'll be on Roger Hedgecock's show in San Diego at 4pm PT (7pm ET). Hedgecock sits in for Rush Limbaugh with some frequency, so it could be an interesting appearance. See the "Media Appearances" info above for details on listening in online.

More groups and individuals have come on to declare "No Confidence" as well. Details on that and, fates allowing, much more by tonight, I hope. Other than that, for the moment, it's an official Open Thread....

The number of organizations and individuals now declaring "No Confidence" in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray special election to fill the U.S. House seat of the jailed Randy "Duke" Cunningham is now increasing exponentially. The race, as we've reported since it was held on June 6th, was run on easily-tamperable Diebold voting machines that were effectively illegal and decertified on both the state and federal level after they were sent home with poll workers for days and weeks prior to the election in contravention of laws, regulations, and of course, common sense.

I'd continue to encourage you to support candidates and organizations who are willing to speak up on these issues! As well as not support those who don't! And feel free to let them know why!

So far today, joining the burgeoning list of groups and individuals and candidates who have already declared "No Confidence" in the race and who are demanding a manual hand count of the ballots (you can do so yourself via VelvetRevolution.us' petition here) are the following:

Massachusetts Secretary of State candidate, John Bonifaz --- who's also a Constitutional attorney --- joins the "growing number of citizens" in declaring "No Confidence" in the unverified Busby/Bilbray election results. In his statement, he declares, "We face today a crisis in public confidence in the integrity of our elections. This crisis threatens the foundation of our democracy."

His statement then goes on to add...

In Maryland, U.S. Senatorial candidate Kevin Zeese calls for a hand count and says in his full statement:

The recently formed Election Defense Alliance, dedicated to bringing together and helping local groups fight for issues of electoral integrity, has also issued a "No Confidence" statement in the Busby/Bilbray election:

The folks above, with more to come as I understand it, join several other notable groups and individuals who have already declared "No Confidence" in the announced results and have demanded a manual hand count of the ballots used in the race. Some of those groups currently include the California Election Protection Network (CEPN), Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), VelvetRevolution.us, Tribune Media columnist Robert Koehler and U.S. House nominee (CA-49) Jeeni Criscenzo.

As we reported (both here and here) the media must stop reporting what they can't actually verify. There exists no proof that Brian Bilbray won the special election in the CA-50th U.S. House race. And yet, nobody holds AP or anyone else in the MSM accountable for reporting to that effect. (Never mind what they'd say about us bloggers if we reported something that couldn't be independently verified! So we try not to do that here. Ever! Of course, they still dismiss us despite the fact that we try only to report veriafiable facts, and they don't bother to do so.)

Given what we've learned since the still wholly unverified Busby/Bilbray election then, the following photo is from a rather prescient Election Night press conference held by Dave Berman and his "We Do Not Consent" folks up in Humboldt County before the polls closed on the evening of June 6th in California. As printed in the Humboldt Advocate on 6/9/06...

(Click photo to read the whole story)

As readers have likely noticed, the Busby/Bilbray issue has sucked me into its vortex (or vice versa?) for the moment. Necessarily. I'll hope BRAD BLOG readers with interests in other non-Busby/Bilbray items will understand, forgive and realize that it's just me here for the most part at this time, though David Edwards and John Gideon are able to jump in with other items as their time allows.

Further, I believe the Busby/Bilbray issue merits the attention currently being given to it, both on the blog and behind the scenes, since it has ramifications for every election in this country come November (after which it will be too late to do anything about what needs to be done now concerning the security of unsecure electronic voting machines).

With that then, two small points for now about which I'll have more details in the days ahead..."Emergency Townhall Meetings" are now being organized to deal with these issues both in Los Angeles and San Diego. In LA, there will be such an event with myself, and several other speakers (details soon) on Tuesday the 27th at 8pm @ the Venice United Methodist Church. In SD on Wednesday the 28th, there will be another event, specific time/location to come shortly. A press conference may be held in conjuction in San Diego next week as well. As mentioned, details forthcoming on all of the above. If you're anywhere in the area, I hope you will turn out. It matters.

Also, yes, as some have asked, I can confirm the item now posted at RAW STORY wherein Bobby Kennedy is quoted as saying in an interview: "I would say that very soon we'll be announcing lawsuits against some of the individuals and companies involved."

Such litigation is, in fact, in the works and has been for some time. Beyond that, it would be imprudent of me to give any further details at this time for a number of reasons. But you've now got still more to look forward to.

Beyond that, feel free to use this as an Open Thread to discuss any or all of the above...or anything else about which I haven't had time to do any reporting over this past week....

The California Election Protection Network (CEPN) has issued a 'No Confidence' Resolution in regard to the Busby/Bilbray Election held on June 6th in San Diego County.

The non-partisan election watchdog network, comprised of more than 25 election integrity groups, has also issued a press release this morning announcing that the elections held in SD County "were conducted under illegal conditions" due to the Registrar having sent voting machines home for overnights with poll workers for days and weeks prior to election day, in direct violation of state and federal rules, laws and provisions.

The statement goes on to call for a manual hand count of the ballots to be paid for by the SD County Registrar, charging that the office has the "obligation to conduct a proper election, not bill the people to pay for his blunder."

A few grafs from that news release today:

-- CEPN's complete press release can be read here...
-- CEPN's 'No Confidence Resolution' can be read here...

CEPN is urging citizens and members to sign Velvet Revolution's petition demanding a manual hand count of all ballots in the race.

In their statement and declaration, CEPN has joined several other organizations and individuals who have declared 'No Confidence' in the race who are demanding that the ballots be counted by hand. Included amongst those are Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), VelvetRevolution.us, and Tribune Media columnist Robert Koehler. As well, VoteTrustUSA has condemned the "egregious violations" in the election and U.S. House Nominee (CA-49) Jeeni Criscenzo has come out to discuss the "outrageous breaches in security" during the election, in which she also ran on June 6th (and won!).

The Fox 'News' Republican Spin Machine was up bright and early on the day following the Busby/Bilbray election (which was conducted on illegal/decertified voting machines) to ensure the predictable party line was heard loud and clear. No matter whether they had any actual facts to bear out their reporting.

BRAD BLOG commenter, "Stop_George" has put together a great Flash Presentation for Huffington Posts's "Contagious Festival" to help set the record straight.

Please watch it, and then use the "Send to Friends!" link at the bottom of the page to spread the word and help the presentation climb up the festival rankings so thousands of more Americans will see it and learn what went on here!

Join PDA, The BRAD BLOG, Tribune Media's Bob Koehler, VelvetRevolution.us (and now, CA Election Protection Network!) and thousands of Americans so far, in declaring NO CONFIDENCE in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray special U.S. House of Representative run-off election last week in California's 50th congressional district!

See how poll workers taking the voting machines home for overnights days before the election rendered them uncertifed and illegal for use by both State and Federal standards, leaving the announced results wholly unverifiable at this time.

Take your democracy back! Declare "No Confidence!" Sign the VR petition...

From today's Indianapolis Star...

PBS' News Hour with Jim Leher covered electronic voting as it occurred in last week's California primary. Suffice to say, while the report was "balanced" strongly towards a pro e-voting position, there were a number of points worth noting, and which underscore the points I've been making re: the illegalities in the Busby/Bilbray election fiasco.

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UPDATE: Thanks to David Edwards, the video of the report is now available here: Video in Streaming Flash format...
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1) Virtually every shot of a Diebold touch-screen voting machine shown in use on Election Day last week in the story, clearly reveals the (nearly-inexplicably) opaque plastic door designed into these systems as being closed over the view window of the so-called "Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail" (VVPAT) printer --- begging the question of how many voters actually bothered to verify their so-called "paper trail" when using these machines.

2) One long-time poll worker is asked what he's seen so far this year with the new voting machines. "Confusion," he replies. Then he goes on to report that voters are supposed to confirm their choices on the screen instead of via the "paper trail"...

3) Computer Scientist David Jefferson from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who examined the systems for CA Sec. of State Bruce McPherson, in light of the recent Utah analysis of Diebold touch-screen systems revealing they could be hacked with two minutes of physical access and no password necessary says (Francine Busby campaign, please take note!)...

Joining a growing drumbeat of individuals and organizations, including The BRAD BLOG, Tribune Media's Bob Koehler and VelvetRevolution.us, the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) has just issued a declaration of "No Confidence" in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray special U.S. House of Representative run-off election last week in California's 50th congressional district!

We are told that other organizations will likely be issuing similar statements and declarations on this matter soon.

TO REVIEW: The election was run on highly hackable Diebold voting machines that were sent home overnight and unsecurely with poll workers for days prior to the election which rendered the machines both illegal and uncertified for use in the election under both federal and state laws, requirements and statutes. The GOP has since rushed to swear-in Bilbray before the votes were counted, or the election even certified by the state of California.

PDA's strongly worded declaration of "No Confidence" posted on their website and is currently being emailed to all of their 60,000+ national members, urging the public to sign VelvetRevolution's Petition demanding a manual hand count of the ballots.

Emily Messner, a blogger at WaPo, has picked up on what's been going on in the Busby/Bilbray election fiasco and asks "How could this be allowed to happen?"

She explains why sending home Diebold voting machines with poll workers, overnight and unsecured for days, is outrageous (and, as we reported yesterday, also illegal) underscoring the point with this graf from NEWSWEEK's Steven Levy just a week or two ago:

She forgot to give us credit for breaking and continuing to cover the story. But we're not really looking for credit, we're just looking for some democracy.

VelvetRevolution.us declares 'No Confidence' in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray Election. Here's why.

Sign the VR petition demanding a manual hand count of paper ballots and paper trails to assure the election was tabulated correctly even though it was carried out on uncertified Diebold voting machines in contravention of state and federal law.

Election reform starts here. It's up to you now to spread the word!

(DISCLOSURE: The BRAD BLOG is a co-founder of VelvetRevolution.us)

I just got off the phone with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) who reportedly wowed 'em a few hours ago during her speech (posted in full below) on the closing afternoon of the "Take Back America" conference being held in Washington D.C.

In her remarks, Schakowsky apologized for "not taking seriously enough the allegations that the 2004 election was stolen." She now feels it was, and claims that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) will be launching an initiative. From today's speech:

Raise a stink? Can do. So can you! Sign Velvet Revolution's petition declaring "No Confidence" in the Busby/Bilbray race!

(Hat tip to my buddy Peter B. Collins, who is in DC to cover the conference, for his quick phone call alert after Schakowsky's speech earlier this afternoon!)

Schakowsky's prepared statement from today's Take Back America conference speech follows in full...