Current Chairman Paul DeGregorio Now Running a Desperate Misinformation Propaganda Campaign Just Days Before Election...
By Brad Friedman on 10/27/2006, 1:33pm PT  

I only have a second as I've got to hit the road to get up to Santa Barbara to speak at tonight's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner (along w/ Wes Clark), so I'll try to be quick about it...

The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) is a complete and utter failure. The current commissioner, Paul DeGregorio, has done nothing to instill confidence in elections or provide a lick of oversight in the deployment and use of these voting systems across the nation in the Midterm Election. In his latest interviews and editorials, he is reprehensibly doing nothing but echoing Voting Machine Company propaganda and Election Officials who choose to be apologists for them.

See DeGregorio's latest editorial here from the Tallahassee Democrat, in which he posts completely unfounded and unsupported "opinion" in contradiction of virtually all scientific evidence.

Contrast DeGregorio's nonsense with the comments of his predecessor, the honest, Bush-appointed, non-crony, Rev. DeForest Soaries, from this unaired network interview, in which he flatly states there are no standards for electronic voting systems in place and that 'elections in America are ripe for stealing.'

The EAC, under the "leadership" of DeGregorio, has become hopelessly compromised as he's allowed even the disinformation experts, such as "Thor" Hearne from the phony GOP front-group "American Center for Voting Rights," to set the agenda for the commission. Note that DeGregorio and Hearne are old St. Louis GOP colleagues. What a scam.

Below are a few choice pieces of information unsubstantiated horse excrement, from DeGregorio's editorial yesterday.

On this one point only, I can actually agree with DeGregorio: "Americans should be confident that their vote will be counted, whether they touch a screen or fill in an oval."

Yes, they should be confident, but they have absolutely no basis for that at this time, thanks to folks like you, Paul. Your words do not give such confidence. Transparency gives confidence. We've had quite enough "faith-based elections" in this country. Anyway, read on for some of DeGregorio's most shamelessly misleading garbage... (You can contact the EAC here.)

Your vote will count
Hype over hacking shouldn't shatter confidence

Americans have been bombarded with tales about how easy it is to hack into a voting machine. Academics, computer scientists and others tell us that they have done it and that we cannot trust voting systems, specifically electronic or touch-screen systems.

Ironically, all of these experiments took place in the sterile environment of a laboratory. In each instance, these experts demonstrated only that, with unlimited time and resources, they could hack a voting machine. What does this prove? Nothing. Is there any proof that a voting system has successfully been hacked during an election? No.
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The real question is whether voting systems are secure enough to withstand potential threats on Election Day. And the answer is yes.
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Election officials are working hard to make sure that voting equipment is stored in secure locations and that they have established a chain of custody for the storage, maintenance and transport of polling equipment.
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Debate about making sure our voting systems are secure, accurate and reliable is healthy. Conducting hacking experiments without working with election officials in a real-world election environment is not.
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The bottom line is that our nation's voting equipment, election results and election officials can and should be trusted.
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[Elections Officials] deserve constructive criticism and solutions, not baseless attacks and unfounded accusations about the equipment they use. [ed note: "unfounded"???]
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Americans should be confident that their vote will be counted, whether they touch a screen or fill in an oval. The integrity of the system is not in hands of hackers, professors, interest groups or politicians in Washington - it is managed by local election officials, as it always has been. No one should be intimidated by the hype over hacking. Vote on Nov. 7. You can count on it.

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