The Open Voting Consortium (OVC), a non-partisan group with Republican, Democratic, Green Party and Libertarian Party support, has today become the first Election Software Developer to publicly endorse Velvet Revolution’s “Divestiture for Democracy” campaign!
In an open letter sent today to VR by OVC President, Alan Dechert, the group announced their intentions of adopting the standards set forth in VR’s February 21st letter to America’s Voting Machine companies, calling on them to do the right thing for their country by — amongst other things — voluntarily opening hardware and software for inspection and certification to ensure transparency in our electoral system.
Dechert calls, in his letter, for the voting process to be “clear, transparent, fair, trustworthy, orderly, observable, and auditable.” We couldn’t agree more. Why so many seem to be frightened by such an idea, is beyond us. If you haven’t already, please join the Revolution by sending an Email to America’s Voting Machine companies stating your support! It’ll take you 60 seconds!
OVC joins a growing list of supporters to the VR “DV4D” Campaign which, along with over 100 Voting Rights and Electoral Reform groups, also currently includes 23 U.S. House members, and 2004 Presidential Candidates David Cobb (Green) and Ralph Nader (Independent). All of these Americans are now calling for a trustworthy, auditable, transparent and verifiable voting system in the world’s most important democracy!
The VR Press Release, with the full copy Dechert’s letter of endorsement is available here.
Wow! A voting machine company in favor of transparency, auditability, and trust! Strange times indeed!
And they mentioned this in public!
this rocks! good stuff, Brad! cheers, VR!
Way to go Brad and everyone who has supported VR and the "Divestiture for Democracy campaign! Hopefully this can be the leak in the dike that allows the floods that wash away the current blight on our democracy! Let’s all help keep it going by contributing to VR and the Brad Blog!
Way to go – excellent. That is the best news I’ve heard all day. Brad and VR ROCKS!!!!!!
OMG.
Brad, congratulations – this is making millions and millions of people happy right now. Stay strong, stay smart! This ship is right on course. Victory in this particular battle looms ahead! One victory will lead to more, and the final dismissal of the *&#’s running the country.
Nice work there Brad. I admire your energy and and your results. This company is making a wise investment in it’s future by becoming a trend setter.
Great news.
XOXOXOXOXO!
Well, this sounds good. Very good. I certainly don’t want to throw cold water on any of this , I’m on your side, believe me, but I went to the OVC we site and explored…
It states to be a ‘non-profit’ and requests donations but I saw nothing that gave a clue as to its tax status with the IRS. I was looking for a reference such as ‘501 (c) 3 or some such thing. There’s a fine roster of supporters there, including Brad, and I don’t their doubt good intentions but their web site really does not explain how the whole operation is suppose to work. Granted, judging by what they do disclose, financially speaking its pretty small potatos….I’d still like more clarity surrounding the details of their incorporation before getting too excited.
Sorry for the skepticism but I learned the hard way.
Thanks, Brad. Keep up the momentum! Someone, at least, has noticed this as a real issue. And keep up the pressure on ACVR matters. We’re all willing to do what we can, too.
This is serious progress!
OVC has grabbed the moral and democratic high ground from the proprietary voting system vendors.
Awesome.
Hey, I’m with you guys 110% but isn’t this "announcement" a little over-the-top?
Unless I completely misunderstand what they are all about, OVC isn’t a voting machine company… they are vote reform activists, just like you guys and BlackBoxVoting.
What’s all the excitement about? Save the champagne for the day Diebold joins VR 🙂
Don
Regarding my #10,
Located just above OVC’s PayPal button the following now appears:
"The Open Voting Consortium is designed as a 501(c)(6) organization, which means that donations are not tax deductible." NOT DEDUCTIBLE.
That’s fair and honest, in my book. Now I have to go back and hit that button. Looks like they could use the help. This group is trying.
Don’t you people realize that almost every state performs certification of election software, and HAVE the source code in escrow? They also have to pass federal requirements, and submit their source code to an ITA (Independent Testing Authority). You idiots don’t need to SEE the source code. If you saw it, what would you do with it? Alter it? Insert a virus? I don’t think so. Exposing software to the world doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. I don’t believe that anyone of the software vendors really care if Joe Schmuck wins the sheriff’s spot in Dry Hole, Arizona. Presidents are elected by electorial colleges. Software vendors, including those in the election industry, are interested in selling their wares, nothing else. The world is safe. Safe until you idiots get out on the freeway.