Guest Blogged by Jeeni Criscenzo

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jeeni Criscenzo is now the Democratic nominee running against incumbent Republican Rep. Darryl Issa for the U.S. House seat in California's 49th congressional district. In her guest blog below, she speaks about some of the horrendous outrages and other disastrous election administration she witnessed in San Diego County's Election on June 6th. She was a primary candidate that day, the same day as the now-questionable Busby/Bilbray race which was run on easily-hacked Diebold voting machines sent home overnight with poll workers prior to the election. Those "sleepovers" are in direct contravention of both state and federal laws and regulations implimented specifically in regard to Diebold voting systems. Thus, ignoring those rules and laws rendering them illegal for use in that election.

I spoke with her at some length last night, and I'm happy to see that, unlike so many Democratic candidates --- including Busby --- she is now more than willing to stand up and raise hell about these very clear outrages. While I have several concerns about her short-term suggested solution of using Absentee Ballots to fight back against the rise of the machines, her perspective is a unique one which deserves to be heard. She makes many points about which I wholeheartedly agree. I'll let you (and her) discuss any concerns in comments here.

No matter the nuanced quibbles, I'd urge you to support candidates like Criscenzo who are willing to speak out loudly and clearly about what the hell is going on here as we all work to find possible solutions to the ongoing and rapid crumbling of our current electoral system. Her campaign website, for more info or to send your support, is right here. --- BF

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Want Voting Integrity - Just Mail It!
by Jeeni Criscenzo

There has been a lot of talk since the California elections last week about the integrity of the vote count, particularly in the run-off election in the 50th District between Francine Busby and Brian Bilbray. It's not surprising that Busby's supporters are dubious of the results: polls showed Busby ahead by 3 to 7 points in the days before the election. An apparent Bilbray win is explained away as the result of a last minute blunder by Busby. If you plan to fix an election where the candidate you want to win is behind in the polls, you need to create a reason for the sudden change on election day, and there it was - Voila! - a last minute slip-of-the-tongue blasted throughout the country by the lock-step right-wing media.

As a candidate who won by a landslide (I was unopposed for the Democratic nomination for Congress, CA District 49), I'm in the fortunate position of being able to look into the election process in San Diego without being called a sore loser.

I made some troubling discoveries on Election Day when I visited 37 precincts in Oceanside as a roving poll monitor (or as Carol Hilton, my friend and monitoring partner, dubbed us --- "Poll Cats"). So last Friday, I visited the Registrar of Voters office to ask questions and to see for myself how the count was being handled....