Just finished a rather remarkable hour on our good friend Peter B. Collins’ radio show on KRXA out of Monterey, CA.
Peter was able to bring Nghia Nguyen Demovic, a spokesperson from the CA Sec. of State’s office, on air the last few minutes of the hour to try and clarify some of the last minute tomfoolery that seems to be going on concerning the impending decision about whether or not to re-certify Diebold Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines in the state of California.
Demovic dodged and danced, and generally evaded such probing questions as what the response from the community was at a public hearing held last week in Sacramento where input was sought concerning the decision about whether or not to allow Diebold back into the state after a major test over the summer revealed that some 20% of Diebold’s AccuVote TSx voting machines failed to operate properly.
As previously reported on BRAD BLOG, the Republican SoS Bruce McPherson — remarkably, and nearly inexplicably — seems to be leaning towards allowing their faulty machines back into the state as the Help America Vote Act’s January 1, 2006 deadline for such acquisitions rapidly approaches.
Though Demovic admitted on-air that she was at the meeting in question, and though it’s been reported publicly that the Anti-Diebold folks far outnumbered the Pro-Diebold forces, she wouldn’t even admit that much! Here’s the The Stockton Record on the meeting last Monday, for example:
Nonetheless, Demovic refused to confirm that information for some reason.
So it was a public meeting, on the public record, that she attended in her capacity as a tax-payer salaried “Communications Director” for our own Secretary of State, yet she refused to give the audience of a California radio station accurate information about what is occurring in our own state capital concerning our own electoral system.
Is “What the fuck?” appropriate to ask here? Or might it be more appropriate to wonder why she hasn’t yet been hired to take Scottie McClellan’s place in the Bush Administration?
Listen to the segment yourself [MP3]. The clip linked here is just the short 8 minute phonecall with Peter and myself questioning Demovic.
Once again we’ll remind you that SoS McPherson’s office has asked for public comment about all of this and whether or not you feel they should recertify Diebold Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines in California. (Whether they give a damn about such comments is another question). To submit a comment, visit http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vs.htm, call (916) 653-6814 or email votingsystemcomment@ss.ca.gov.
And remember, as California goes…so goes the rest of the country!
UPDATE: Demovic also stated during the interview that a full list of those who were invited to participate in the conference was on the SoS website and in response to my question of whether Voting Rights and Election Reform groups were invited she said that yes, they were invited, and yes, they were all listed on the SoS website. Well, here’s the website for the event, and unless I’m missing it, I don’t see either the list of invited groups (other than speakers, who all seem to be largely from the Electronic Voting companies or Secretaries of State), nor do I see any Voting Rights or Election Reform organizations on the agenda.
UPDATE: The complete text transcript of the coversation now follows…
NGHIA NGUYEN DEMOVIC: Thank you, my pleasure.
PETER: Yes, first of all can we talk about the comment line. It is open today, is it open today only?
NGHIA: The summit?
PETER: No, the comment line. The phone number at 916-657-2166. Are you aware of it?
NGHIA: Um, the voting systems?
PETER: Yes.
NGHIA: Yes.
PETER: You are aware of it. Now….
NGHIA: Yes and also your viewers, your listeners can also send in their comments to the Secretary of State via email as well…
PETER: Okay.
NGHIA: …or through our website at www.ss.ca.gov.
PETER: Okay. Nghia, why is the comment line open for such a brief window of time?
NGHIA: The public comment is open for a week after the public hearing.
PETER: Which was last Monday.
NGHIA: Which…correct and it’s an opportunity for folks who were not able to attend the actual hearing in Sacramento, to send the Secretary comments.
PETER: Okay.
BRAD FRIEDMAN: Could I ask a quick….
PETER: Go ahead Brad, sure.
BRAD: Why is it only for a week, considering that the week, I think you guys were closed on Thursday and Friday, were you not?
NGHIA: That’s why we’ve opened it up on, folks can send us emails or um, through the website as well. Or through letters.
BRAD: And let’s say that you get uh 50 or so folks who don’t want those Diebold machines in there, for every 1 who does. Is that going to have an affect on his decision and how will it affect that decision?
NGHIA: Secretary McPherson will thoroughly review all the comments that were given, and will be given, to his office before he certifies any system.
BRAD: And because I understand at the meeting – were you at that meeting last Monday?
NGHIA: Yes.
BRAD: And could you give us an idea of the comments that you all received at that meeting, concerning these Diebold machines?
NGHIA: Our staff is still gathering comments at the meeting. At that meeting we had folks who spoke against the system, as well as for the system. We had activists there, we had concerned citizens, as well as Registrars of Voters there as well.
BRAD: Did the numbers for one side or the other, outweigh on either side?
[pause]PETER: Did you hear the question, Nghia?
NGHIA: I think there were a lot of folks who expressed their opinion and the Secretary will be more than happy to… I mean he will review all the comments made. But what I came on to talk about is, today and tomorrow, the Secretary has convened a voting system’s testing summit of 23 states, to talk about successful best practices blueprint for the testing of voting systems. We have representatives from the Federal Elections Commission here, we also have scientist’s academics, and activists, to talk about their best practices and their recommendations for a testing system.
BRAD: Do you have voting rights and election reform groups involved in that summit?
NGHIA: We, the folks, we have invited and have solicited input from as many folks as we could possibly think of. After today, we will also have, we will make the report and the recommendations public. In February, the Secretary will host a public meeting on the summit’s recommendation as well.
BRAD: Could you give me an idea of who some of those folks from the election reform community and voting rights activists are that will be attending the summit?
NGHIA: Some – the agenda has always been posted on our website and the folks have been confirmed. Everything has been public and has been posted on our website as well.
BRAD: The names of the folks who are attending, the organizations who are attending, are posted on the website?
NGHIA: Correct.
BRAD: Okay, that’s great. And once again, we didn’t get to it, you said you were there and so maybe you could let us know as a communications person, at that meeting, was any one side represented more than any other side in regard – because we’re trying to get an idea of how the public feels about, you know, Diebold coming back into California. There have been reports that the folks against Diebold, far outnumbered and it wasn’t even close, those who support Diebold. Can you confirm that for us?
NGHIA: Well we have viewpoints from all sides and like I said, the Secretary will review all the comments that were given to him.
PETER: Alright, Nghia, we’ll chalk that up as an evasion, and we understand that you don’t want to answer that question. Why was the Voting System Panel disbanded?
NGHIA: It’s the same system that, the same panel that has always been there. We had our Elections Counsel there, we had our Assistant Secretary of Constituent Affairs and Legislative Affairs there, we had our Chief Assistant Secretary there, we had our elections um…
PETER: Right, but there was a panel that included people outside of the Secretary of State’s Office and they were not invited to the last few sessions. So has that panel been disbanded, Nghia?
NGHIA: The name of the panel has been changed. However, the makeup is the same and the…
PETER: Why did you change the name? Just to confuse us?
NGHIA: Absolutely not. It’s, the process is still the same and the Secretary wants to make sure that – part of the reason why he’s holding this public hearing is to get, is to present the staff report and the consultants’ report, hear public comments about it, so that he can review all of the above.
PETER: Okay, I understand. Nghia, could you just pass along to Mr. McPherson, that he is invited to come on our program for an hour, at his convenience. We would like to talk to him about these issues, about the process that is underway, regarding electronic voting machines and we’d like to hear from him directly about the criteria that he will use to evaluate Diebold’s machines, in particular, against the looming deadline for certification at the end of December. So could you pass along that invitation to him?
NGHIA: Absolutely and the invitation that was given to us, um, by your producer, is that it was either the Secretary, or if he wasn’t available, which he isn’t because he’s at the summit right now, all day today and tomorrow, is that one of a, one, a representative can come on as well.
PETER: Yes, and we appreciate that. I’d like to speak to Mr. McPherson. We’re on the air every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m., so when his schedule permits, please see if we can make that work.
NGHIA: Well thank you very much.
PETER: Alright, thank you very much. That’s Nghia Nguyen Demovic, from the Secretary of State’s Office. We have one minute remaining, Brad, do you want to sum up?
BRAD: Uh, yeah, boy I would have liked to have asked her with the minute that we had left there, asked her about that hack test and how that got reported.
PETER: Yeah, sorry.
BRAD: But yeah, it was interesting the way she, as you pointed out, evaded the question. I don’t know why it’s so difficult for her to simply say, well yeah, there was about 30 folks who spoke against it and 2 folks who spoke in favor of it.
PETER: Right.
BRAD: Might give us an idea of the type of reporting we’re going to get out of that Secretary of State’s Office, I’m afraid.
PETER: Well my sense is she’s in over her head and she is being heavily managed from above.
BRAD: It certainly sounds like it. Real quick, I don’t know if we have time, oh shoot I don’t have it in front of me. I wanted to give out, maybe you could in the next hour, give out that number again for the Secretary of State’s Office.
PETER: I’ve got it right here, Brad, thanks a lot for joining us today, we’ll talk again soon. That’s Brad Friedman, from bradblog.com. The number is 916-657-2166.
BRAD: Thanks, Peter.
It’s enough to make you sick. Oh wait! I’m sick already.
It’s enough to make you crazy. Oh wait! …
Well Brad, I’ve finally had it. When I heard that the CA Secretary of State is bringing in a FINN to hack Diebold, I had to respond with
THE AUTORANK CHALLENGE
It’s groundbreaking…
Lets see if McPherson has the guts to take it on…
http://www.progressiveindepende...8;mesg_id=6063
Brad, I’ve finally had it! When I read that CA Scty of State McPherson is bringing in a Finish hackerk to test diebold, I decided to issue…
THE autorank CHALLENGE
I agree Doug E.
But the fundamental problem with all of this is McPherson actually selecting any one person or group to test. He should have a say but so should critics (just like picking a jury). There have been many tests and Diebolds in CA can’t capture votes. What difference does a hacking contest make now. It’s just a diversion.
Is McPherson trying to get us to agree to the absurd notion that if somehow Diebold survives the test, then we can just ignore the voting error rate of at least 10% and start using them?
This is well beyond "The Twilight Zone."
I think we’re seeing a last ditched grab for power here.. It won’t take long (perhaps a few more years) before we’re all so Big Brothered that we get fed up and revolt.. that, or we’ll be so programmed that we no longer care. Personally, I find that hard to fathom.
These machines will come back, we’ll have another election that’s rigged, more Republicans in office.. The House and Senate will be swamped with criminals sucking the very life out of us citizens, and more and more people will get together and talk.. you’ll see good old fashioned "town meetings" again, and people meeting at churches and schools discussing just how screwed up things got.. asking "if we have 75% of our district standing here, and no one voted for shit-for-brains, how is he our Senator?".. that will spread, and people will have no choice but to realize that the machines did it.. Once that happens, people will, most literally, destroy all the machines they can get their hands on. Then we’ll be back to paper for the next election, and we’ll see (what might be up to) 10 years of bullshit laws get rolled back. With a little luck, every politician that supported the machines will end up in prison too.. we’ll just have to wait and see..
At least, that’s my "worst case scenario" picture.. Things could get a lot worse, I suppose.. OR, we could get lucky and nip this in the bud now.. I’ve got my fingers crossed, but I’ve never been big on getting my hopes up..
That, again, Bruce has no authority to do.
He either responds in writing to Bev Harris’s written questions and the procedural manual already set forth by the state, or this goes to court again, and Harris’s client Hursti will have no intentions of going along with the ‘sham test’ just because someone requested it.
Doug E.
Hey Brad 😉
I talk to you on the show with Peter B. I was the gal from Cypress. I wanted to give you that contact info I was telling you all about and then you and Peter started the "Just push the # 6 if you…" gosh it is so late I can’t even quote you all.
Anyway, just wanted to jog your memory of my call, and get this info to your blog. (This is a cut&paste from my post at BlackBoxVoting.org—I to tired to retype it 😉 P.S. If anyone finds spelling errors please just ignore them. I was trying my best today to get the info out. I covered my bases by posting Brad’s website. He gets everthing right!
It is as follow;
This is what I wrote in the forum at
"Blackboxvoting.org" before I heard this from McPherson’s office.
I am pleading with all grassrooter to make a call
today or tomorrow and tell them what you think about
this bullcrap SoS McPherson is letting happen. Change
his mind.
The following is the complaint from BBV,
(http://www.bbvforums.org/forums...tml?1133214142)
if this link doesn’t work just go here,
(http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bi...ums/discus.cgi)look
for my post,
and go to Bradblog,
(https://bradblog.com/archives/00002079.htm), you
can read the confusion
Most Sincerely
Michelle
in Cypress
I just wanted to let you all know that when you call
SoS office at 916-653-6814 you then must push #6 then
push #2 to go directly to McPherson’s office.
I just got off the phone with his receptionist, I bet
she was glad to get off the phone with me,and before
talking to her I call the voting division. I did this
by pushing #6 and then #3. The receptionist told me to
write the SoS and I told her I have and I will again.
I also insisted that she give my phone message to him
also. She said she would. (yeah, and I have some swamp
land to sale too ;-(
In the voting department they connected me with the
voice mail of Bruce McDonald, he is out at a
conference for 2 days, the Systems Specialist. I left
a message asking why the info on the test is not clear
and during testing the public can not attend. Who’s
ass are they protecting, Diebold? (I did leave that in
my message) However, I did tell him that I thought it
was not responsible to the public, that pays his
wages, not to return my call. I deserve some answers
to my question. Also, that he would feel the same way
if he were in my shoes. (Okay alittle hokey, but you
do what you can to stir some emotion from these people
😉
Please call and give-them-hell. We have to fight to
keep this state from being called another Ohio, or
Florida. Hell! We have to fight the facsists. (Okay,
there I said it. Don’t think me radical. Just know I
am passionate…)
I hope people do contact the CA SoS using the contact details Brad has supplied above.
As I recently posted on BBV, "I hope some of the folks in other states do the same [as what Michelle has been doing, contacting her local media and various national blogs etc.]. Diebold would quickly attempt to use this in other states to spread misinformation. (E.g., try to reassure other SoS’s that BBV wouldn’t take on their "challenge" in an attempt to discredit BBV, when Diebold & the SoS are the ones who should be discredited for attempting to set up such an obviously phony "test" situation.)"
This is all about Diebold and SoS trying to spin this and use it to imply that their machines are so secure that no one dares test them–ignoring of course the Florida and other hack demos. The word that needs to get out is the now Diebold and the CA SoS are trying to rig a phony "test" of their machines, and BBV is too smart to play along.
It’s not enough that CA SoS is willing to contemplate certifying machines made by Diebold, a company that is breaking CA court orders, but for unknown reasons the CA SoS is even collaborating with Diebold to further break CA’s own regulations regarding what equipment is eligible to be used in CA.
Get the judge in the BBV case against Diebold to enforce the injunction with sanctions.
That court gave a permanent injunction against Diebold and it should not be forgotten.
The weekend before that "Public Comments" was to happen, I emailed (through their websites) both the CA Dems and Angelides’ office asking them about it, what they intended to do and what they would advise "we the people" do. I have not heard from either organization. What is up with this? Do they not care? I did a follow-up email to one of the organizations (can’t remember which) stating that, while it’s a great idea always for the people to lead, that it is ridiculous when the leaders display no interest in following. Who knows? Maybe they are all working vigorously behind the scenes, but I do wonder. And wonder. Does anyone have a clue, heard anything, read anything, etc.?
Cheery, maybe Ray Lemme meant it went allll the way to the top, not just all the way to the top
Floridiot – I suspect that Lemme’s investigation unearthed stuff only up to and including Jeb; hence his apparent jubilation and expectation – had it gone to higher levels I think he would have already been fearful and less gung-ho. Poor Ray – I think he believed his foe could be beaten by his heroic yet mortal likes. Woe on all of us!
Clearly the MO of any republican hack now is to dodge, dodge, and lie regarding election fraud.
Bev Harris has not initiated such a test for either party and she said that until the state agrees with the procedure and outlines their guidelines in red ink, there will be no test.
Bruce McPherson just further sullied his credibility with this stunt, as he did Diebold’s.
Doug E.
I too e-mailed and sent a letter to the Governator and SoS on the Diebold situation. That was a week ago and I have received nothing. I assume they were trashed.
Yeah, CZARAGORN I think so too, but I think he was suicided before it got any higher up into the DUN DUN DUN, DUN, " shadow government "
If Bev or anyone in CA could let us know what we can do, I’m onboard!
Has anyone else tried to get in touch with the CA Dems–either the group itself or individual members–about this and ask what their position is? Their silence is troubling, and I’ve take up enough space airing the issue so will shut up now. Tnx to all.
No one seems to care….except for the watchdogs.
You can send mail and raise the issue further with Barbara Boxer…she gave a speech about it.
http://boxer.senate.gov
Doug
The Republicans are trying to force voting machines that can be hacked by them to steal elections. What more information do people need that we no longer live in a democracy with free and open elections. The Republicans have turned our nation into a dictatorship and its time for the the people of this nation to act.
So what does that leave us? If we can’t get these sons of bitches out of power through the electoral process what does that leave? Use your imaginations.
Ahnold may be an admirer of Adolph Hitler, but if I were him I’d crack a book and read about the last days of Hitler and the Nuremberg trials.
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