An urgent letter has been sent today to the Governors, Secretaries of State and State Election Directors of all 50 states urging them to immediately create and implement plans and procedures for allowing the use of Emergency Paper Ballots at every local jurisdiction during this November's general election.

The missive, signed by a broad coalition of more than 50 Election Integrity Advocate groups, congressional members, elections officials, computer scientists, attorneys and journalists comes on the heels of Federal legislation recently introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate. Those bills, which were not brought up for a vote before Congress adjourned for the Election Recess, called for funding to states who implement plans to provide Emergency Paper Ballots. The legislation was introduced in the wake of recent primary elections around the country where voters were unable to cast a vote due to failure, malfunction, or other inability of electronic voting systems.

The two-page letter [PDF] (also posted in full at the end of this article) was signed by individuals such as: Sen. Barbara Boxer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Rush Holt, Leon County, FL Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, OH elections attorney Cliff Arnebeck and University of Iowa computer scientist Doug Jones. Organizations signed on include: Common Cause, VerifiedVoting.org, VotersUnite.org, BlackBoxVoting.org, VoterAction.org, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, MoveOn.org, TrueMajorityAction.org and many other national, state and local Election Integrity advocate groups.

"No legally registered voter should ever be told to 'come back later,' or be forced to use a provisional ballot simply because a voting system is unavailable to them at the time they are able to vote," the letter reads. "It is imperative that an ample supply of Emergency Paper Ballots be made available to account for any unforeseen circumstance."

The letter continues, "All voters must have the option to vote on an Emergency Paper Ballot if necessary and all such ballots must be counted as regular --- not provisional --- ballots."

As well, it's pointed out that some states already have certain procedures required by law to ensure that registered voters are allowed to vote, in the event that primary balloting procedures break down. Officials are urged to check those requirements and otherwise "draft, establish and publicize your own state's common-sense plans for Emergency Paper Ballots at every polling place this Nov. 7th, so that every election official, poll worker, and voter may be crystal clear on the procedures for utilizing such measures."

The movement calling on states to create Emergency Paper Ballot plans began just three weeks ago when The BRAD BLOG first called on the U.S. Congress to introduce and pass legislation in order to ensure that legally registered voters would not be turned away from the polls without being allowed to vote, as has been the case for thousands of voters in a number of states this year due to voting machines that failed to start up, were misprogrammed, failed during voting or, in some cases, hadn't been brought to polling places at all until several hours after polls were to have opened.

Many voters were either told to "come back later" or given Provisional Ballots, which are not counted as normal ballots on Election Night and frequently not counted at all.

Legislation for Emergency Ballots was introduced the following week in the U.S. Senate by Senators Boxer, Christopher Dodd, Russ Feingold and Kerry. A matching House version was filed the next day by Rep. Rush Holt and co-sponsored by 28 other House members. As well, Feingold and Kerry introduced a "Sense of the Senate" resolution calling for same, but that effort was also never brought up for a vote on the floor before the recess.

The letter, drafted by this journalist along with a number of other signatories, was sent to all recipients via return-receipt requested certified mailing this morning by VelvetRevolution.us. [DISCLOSURE: The BRAD BLOG is a co-founder of VR.]

With the failure of Congress to pass such crucial legislation prior to this November's important general election, the effort now moves to the State and Local level. Organizations and individuals are called on to contact their State and Local Elections officals to assure that plans are in place to accommodate any and all unforeseen circumstances.

Alluding to Americans who have fought for and defended the right to vote in the past, and indeed to this day around the globe, the letter concludes: "Our vote is our precious franchise. We believe it is worth defending, and worth the effort to guarantee that that right remains assured and inviolate."

Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), one of the initial signatories, has created an online petition for citizens to urge their Secretaries of State and Governors to ensure such plans and procedures are created and implemented immediately. Take action by clicking here...

The open letter, sent to all State Governors, Secretaries of State and State Election Directors calling for Emergency Paper Ballot plans and procedures and signed by 55 organizations and individuals, can be downloaded here [PDF]. It also follows below in full...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.Org

States and counties are being forced to purchase used, refurbished voting machines. In this segment Kitty talks to an election official and a voter about this practice. As Kitty points out, "the chain of custody for these machines is the real issue. Experts say the machines can be tampered with, and malicious codes inserted, as these machines pass from one jurisdiction to another."

-- Streaming Flash version...

The text-transcript of Wednesday's segment on Lou Dobbs Tonight follows in full...

A rightwing extremist "news" outlet, Newsmax.com, was apparently also unable to help labelling disgraced Republican sexual predator Rep. Mark Foley as a Democrat in a report released on their website this morning.

Our buddy Bob Kincaid of Head-On Radio alerted us to this report today from NewsMax's "chief Washington correspondent," Ronald Kessler...

Kincaid asks us via email: "At what point do we stop saying that this is accidental?"

The original appearance of such an "accident" occurred, as we reported it last week, when Fox "News" labelled the Republican Foley as a Democrat in a chyron over a video cutaway. Three of them, in fact. Across two different O'Reilly Factor segments. After our report brought attention to the issue, Fox blanked out that part of the screen during their two subsequent of the program later that night.

The next day, Associated Press did the same thing, but at least had the decency to both correct the problem by changing the "D" to "R" and noting the original "error" at the bottom of the report in a journalistically appropriate way when they did so.

Like phony news organization Fox, who told Editor & Publisher a few days later that they felt no "correction per se" was necessary, phony news organization Newsmax apparently doesn't believe they need to tell anybody of the "error." They changed the "D" in their story to "R" later in the day --- after who knows how many had read the article --- but didn't bother to note the change in the updated article.

So much for Republican journalistic ethics. So much for Republicans taking personal responsibility. For anything.

UPDATE 3:33pm PT: Editor & Publisher picks up this story...

The U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) is now doing the bidding of the RNC, according to an article today from USA TODAY.

It seems that the EAC commissioned, received, and then buried a report concerning the issue of Voter Fraud (as opposed to Election Fraud and other legitimate disenfranchisement issues) when they didn't like the results they received. The report, which the commission received four months ago but failed to release, found "little evidence" of the "problem" now being pushed nationwide by GOP operatives as evidence that disenfranchising Photo ID requirement laws should be passed in states across the country.

Such laws have been passed, and found unconstitutional from Georgia to Arizona to Missouri, yet the proponents of this scam --- who have shown themselves willing to stoop to any level to keep Democratic-leaning voters, who are far more likely to lack drivers' licenses, from voting --- have been keeping up their ongoing and expensive propaganda campaign.

Members of the commission were reportedly split on whether to release the report publicly. That internal battle four months ago may have led to at least one resignation from the commission, The BRAD BLOG has learned. Now chaired by outgoing Bush-appointee Paul DeGregorio since the original chair Rev. DeForest Soaries resigned in frustration, citing lack of support for true electoral reform from both the White House and Congress, the EAC has been much criticized for their failure to oversee implementation of and standards for new Electronic Voting Systems across the country.

The item today from USA TODAY suggests that the commission may now have become entirely politicized and polarized...

A blog item, also posted today by USA Today, includes a link to the now unearthed report [PDF] which the EAC had sought to bury.

The report goes on to quote from GOP operative Mark F. "Thor" Hearne, who is still pushing his deceitful line about the non-existent "epidemic" of voter fraud in the country. Unfortunately, it is Hearne himself who appears to be the fraud, as The BRAD BLOG revealed in a series of reports beginning in March of 2005.

The RNC and the White House, via Hearne, their main operative on the Photo ID canard, have spread phony propaganda suggesting an epidemic of voter fraud in America ever since the 2004 election, when hundreds of thousands of voters were disenfranchised at the hands of GOP operatives.

Hearne and his motley crew created the phony, self-described "non-partisan" GOP front group, calling themselves "American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR), as we first revealed on March 22nd, 2005, shortly after they were the only "Voting Rights" group called to testify before congressional hearings held by the now-disgraced Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) on what went wrong in Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election.

Hearne testified before Ney's House Administration Committee on behalf of ACVR just three days after the group was created. He testified only that he was "a long time voting rights advocate," and didn't bother to mention that he had been the General Counsel for Bush/Cheney '04 or that ACVR's co-founder was Jim Dyke, the RNC Communications Director.

Dyke now works out of Dick Cheney's office in the White House. After exposure of the sham organization by this reporter, the group eventually added "Democrat" Brian Lunde as Executive Director. Lunde is a close advisor to Karl Rove and worked hard for Bush in 2004 and to retain a Republican Majority.

The group has been pushing phony stories about "Voter Fraud" to encourage disenfranchising Photo ID laws in states around the country ever since. The ACVR was even behind the creation of the Baker/Carter Commission, which also called for restrictive Photo ID laws.

From USA TODAY again...

In the meantime, the sham continues this Friday when the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights will hold a hearing to discuss some of these matters. But the speakers list, The BRAD BLOG has learned, is made up most of the usual Photo ID Suspects.

The list includes the same old crew: Hearne, Prof. Robert Pastor (Executive Director of the cooked Baker/Carter Commission, who went ballistic in a BRAD BLOG interview last year) and the Wallstreet Journal's ultra-con John Fund, who wrote a book full of this propoganda some years ago that served to launch the current insidious movement.

The only invited speaker representating anything close to an actual legitimate voting rights activist is Donna Brazile of the DNC's Voting Rights Institute. We have warned her that it would seem she is being set up by appearing with this barrel of bad apples.

For more information on the "non-partisan" tax-exempt ACVR scam and the snakeoil salesmen who invented it, Bush/Cheney '04 National General Counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke, please see BRAD BLOG's full Special Coverage of the "American Center for Voting Rights" at https://BradBlog.com/ACVR.

The complete press release for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing this Friday is posted in full below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.Org

Last night Lou Dobbs doubled the reporting on his semi-regular "Democracy At Risk" segment. Kitty Pilgrim reported on the recent breakdown of the system in Volusia County where but for the local newspaper and stalwart activists the county would have been able to bury discrepancies in their recording of votes in their primary election. Also Bill Schneider reported on how important the November general election is and that there are teams of lawyers ready to step in and take action.

-- Streaming Flash version...

The text-transcript of Tuesday's segment on Lou Dobbs Tonight follows in full...

So what shall we make of this?...

Among several of many interesting points on the website...

...And much more. Well, what will they think of next?

Think things have gotten bad for Diebold and friends? Something tells us they're about to get a whole lot worse.

HBO has just announced that they will be debuting Hacking Democracy, the long-awaited documentary film by Simon Ardizzone, Robert Carrillo Cohen and Russell Michaels, on November 2nd --- just days before millions of Americans will head to the polls to use all-new untested, inaccurate, hackable, electronic voting systems for the first time.

The BRAD BLOG received the first press release issued by HBO on this film late yesterday; it's posted in full at the end of this item.

We've yet to see the final version of the eagerly anticipated film (though we're told a screener is headed our way) but we've spent hours of time in conversation over the last year or two with both Michaels and Cohen as the pieces --- and the evidence --- were coming together.

We're told there are some remarkably damaging revelations to be seen --- and heard --- in the film, which includes not just interviews with Elections Officials, Computer Scientists, Security Experts, and Diebold Spokesliars, but loads of on-the-scene, first-hand documentary footage of some of the most remarkable and stunning moments during the long road of discovery in the E-Voting Revolution Scam that's been perpetrated on American democracy before, during and since the 2004 Election.

The investigative film, nearly three years in the making, is said to lay out a devasting case against E-voting in general, and Diebold in particular. The film, previously known as VoterGate, was released on the Internet in a very short, barebones "Presidential Election Special" just prior to the 2004 Election. At the time, that early, quickly compiled version --- which was jaw-dropping in and of itself --- followed the early stages of investigations into electronic voting machine fraud, vulnerabilities, and malfunction by Bev Harris and the late Andy Stephenson of BlackBoxVoting.org.

The earlier clips were released for free on the Internet in 2004 when the filmmakers felt they had already acquired so much important footage that they felt a responsibility to do something with it before the Presidential Election.

But as remarkable as the revelations of that short version were, that was then and this is now: some two years, miles of footage, and at least two or more actual demonstrated voting machine hacks later. The now-retitled film includes scores of fresh never-before-seen interviews, damning statements, and documents, and culminates in one of the most devasting moments in E-voting's short and sordid history: The Leon County Florida Hack, by computer security expert Harri Hursti, of a Diebold optical-scan voting machine in December of 2005.

The filmmakers were there for that watershed moment when the legendary Supervisor of Elections in Leon County, Ion Sancho, allowed independent computer security experts the opportunity to try and hack his paper-based Diebold optical scan voting system. The result was a flipped mock election, with no trace of the hack left behind, save for the paper ballots (which, in Florida, are now illegal to examine by hand after they have already been counted by a machine.)

Diebold said it couldn't be done. Diebold, apparently, lied.

That hack resulted in shockwaves across the national electoral landscape as it revealed the very real consequences of what had, up until then, been a largely theoretical fear about the vulnerability of electronic voting machines to malicious tampering.

An election had now been flipped for the first time on an actual voting system, this one a paper-based Diebold model. The touch-screen systems, we would later learn, are even more vulnerable.

The Leon County Hack will be seen, as it occured, for the first time when HBO premiers the film just days before this November's general election, when millions of Americans will be using those same new, hackable, optical-scan and touch-screen voting systems made by Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Hart InterCivic, and others for the first time.

It's about to get much worse, indeed. We hope to have more on Hacking America in the coming days.

UPDATE 10/15/06: Details now available on HBO's site here...

HBO's complete first press release on the film, including a schedule of air-dates, follows in full...

...Or so the emailer who called it to my attention aptly referred to this editorial today by E.J. Dionne in WaPo. We concur. Lame.

For the record, and once and for all, American democracy doesn't need paper trails! American democracy needs paper ballots! Can we at least get that much straight by now?!

If you don't believe me, just wait until your first high-profile challenged election occurs on touch-screen voting machines which use paper trails instead of a paper ballots. (You may not need to wait very long.) Just watch and see how much confidence those paper trails will offer skeptics during the challenge.

Beyond that, did we mention how lame the editorial was? It would have been a great piece had this been October 2004 instead of October 2006!

And they actually pay people to write those columns in the Washington Post? While we have to beg for donations??? (Speaking of which...we haven't done so in a long time, so please feel free to drop something in our tip jar if you can! We could use it. And we'll endeavor to not be lame in return.)

Last week we ran an item on fraudulent Voter Registration Forms submitted by a group reportedly tied to the RNC down in Tennessee where there's a tight U.S. Senate race in play to replace the outgoing Bill Frist.

More information on those dirty tricks, and the ties to long-time Arizona-based GOP operative, Nathan Sproul & Associates, are now being reported by AP.

Sproul & Associates, and their various shadowy front groups, were linked to the shredding of Democratic Voter Registration Forms in Nevada, West Virginia, Oregon and elsewhere in 2004 as reported by Max Blumenthal in October of 2004 and again recently in Bobby Kennedy's Rolling Stone exposé asking "Was The 2004 Election Stolen?" More details about Sproul and the millions of dollars he seems to have received from Team Bush '04, and their attempts to hide those costs, were reported by Mark Crispin Miller in June of 2005.

Regular readers of The BRAD BLOG will recall that Sproul & Associates were given buckets of unreported RNC cash before, during and after the 2004 election. For some reason or another. Sproul is also reported to be an organizer for the Christian Coalition. Natch.

And now, AP is reporting the RNC hired a group down in Tennessee calling themselves Liberty Consultants to register (Republican) voters. Even if they had to make them up to do so. And whaddaya know? Liberty Consultants are funded by our old friend Nathan Sproul...

Guest Blogged by Warren Stewart of VoteTrustUSA.org and cross-posted here.

"A perception of legitimacy is more important than legitimacy itself."
-- from the movie "Man of the Year".

Unless you’ve spent the last week on a secluded desert island, you’ve probably caught some of the Hollywood pre-release hype about "Man of the Year", which will hit theatres nationwide on October 13. The premise of the movie is that a comedian, Tom Dobbs (played by Robin Williams), who has made a career of skewering politicians, runs a Pat Paulsen-style campaign for president. Sure enough, he wins.

Or does he?

It turns out that his election was the result of a computer voting error. "Delacroy Voting Systems" has sold the nation on their new electronic voting system and one of their employees discovers that the system has a 'glitch' that gave the election to the clown. The company, who couldn't care less who wins the election and is only concerned about the effect the revelation might have on the company's stock, plots to destroy the employee's credibility.

It all sounds chillingly familiar, doesn't it?...

The Clint Curtis campaign for the U.S. House (FL-24) issued a press release late last week asking "What Did Feeney Know About Colleague Mark Foley's Predatory Behavior And When Did He Know It?". (Press release posted in full at the end of this article.)

It was not without reason that we asked the same question of Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff) last week at the end of a blog item on the latest misstep in the corrupt Congressman's crazy smear campaign he's running against Curtis. A smear campaign that, we might add, seems to be helping Curtis enormously!

For evidence of that, see this local Florida news report (includes video) blasting Feeney for sending porn mailings to local moms, and this darn-near accurate feature article in Saturday's Orlando Sentinel calling on Feeney to take a lie-detector test!

The question of what Feeney knew about Foley, when he knew about it and what he did about it is an appropriate one. Feeney, as Deputy Whip, is a member of the House GOP leadership who had reportedly been informed long ago of the "Foley Problem." Feeney is also a Florida caucus colleague of the now-disgraced child predator and proudly worked with Foley on bills such as the PROTECT Act of 2003 to punish those who would exploit children.

For background, as briefly as we can give it (regular BRAD BLOG readers may skip this graf) Curtis is running to unseat Feeney this year. Curtis alleged in December of 2004 that Feeney had asked him to create a vote-rigging software prototype to be used for flipping the votes in South Florida when both men worked at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI), an Oviedo, FL, software firm. Curtis was a programmer, and Feeney was their general counsel and registered lobbyist (in addition to his day job as Speaker of the Florida House). As early as 2001, Curtis also alleged that YEI --- where Feeney maintains his campaign headquarters even today --- was harboring communist Chinese spies and overbilling state agencies by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both of those claims have since been borne out (see this summary of the extraordinary Clint Curtis story); Curtis has also told his story in sworn video-taped testimony before a congressional panel and passed a polygraph test, which Feeney, for his part, still refuses to take.

Despite Feeney's silly and shameless use of doctored photos and doctored facts on his campaign's smear website and smear blog --- which has only just now been updated to disclose that its "Paid for by Tom Feeney" after an FEC complaint was filed --- and despite Feeney's various misfired attempts to tar Curtis with ridiculous and self-disproving claims, we'll avoid such cheap and childish shots at the Congressman. At least for the time being.

We will, however, suggest that Mr. Feeney --- who has been mighty quiet about the Foley scandal since it broke --- may want to go on record, sooner rather than later, about exactly what he knew and what he did, or didn't do, about the Foley issue over the past several years.

While we're at it, was Feeney one of those dozens of folks in Congress who recently received subpeonas on this matter? I'm sure he'll have no trouble telling us whether that answer is either yes or no.

As we all know, it's not the crime, but the cover-up that gets 'em every time. We're waiting Mr. Feeney. You may wish to make your move before someone else does it for you. Just trying to be helpful here.

Clint Curtis' complete press release follows in full...

You know what Fox "News" did last week. And of course, that they didn't think such an egregious "error" merited either an apology or on-air correction.

Here's what they're doing this week, as according to Sinfonian at dKos...

(Hat-tip to Des.)

You'll note there is no siren included with this item.

The BRAD BLOG urges a measured response to the testing of a nuclear media strategy by a madman desperate for attention and respect on the world stage.

That strategy, by George W. Bush, has now been launched after the apparent testing of an atomic weapon by a country that we've long known has had them and who long ago informed the world that they intended to test them.

Bush, as you know, has done little to nothing about this known threat to world stability and security for the last six years, while otherwise devoting precious American blood and treasure to non-existent threats elsewhere.

We expect a slow but persistent ramping up of this "crisis" over the next 29 days news cycles remaining between now and November 7th. The growing "urgency" will emanate from the White House, from within their bully pulpit at the United Nations and, most disturbingly of all, will be amplified by the Administration water-carriers inside and across the national corporate media.

Democrats, Progressives and bloggers hoping to mitigate the clear and present threat of the Bush Administration and their reckless assault on world stability are urged to exercise caution in their public response to what had previously been a less-than-top priority for the Administration.

Debate about even that topic serves only to give credence, legitimacy and media coverage to the agenda of a failed and dangerous regime. Mostly, such discussion will do little more than feed an Administration desperate for any distraction they can muster to draw attention away from what might otherwise be a national day of reckoning this November 7th.

This concludes our BRAD BLOG ALERT and hopefully our coverage of this matter until at least November 8th, 2006.

Restrictive and disenfranchising laws for Photo ID requirements at the polls are being pushed all over the country as part of a nationally orchestrated GOP scam that's been underway since at least the first few hours after the 2004 Election.

(For more details, see this series of BRAD BLOG articles exposing the phony GOP front group at the epicenter of this national effort. They are the "non-partisan" and ironically-named "American Center for Voting Rights". We discovered their onerous, ongoing scam early in their attempt to pull off this nationwide hoax with the direct aid and comfort of now-disgraced Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, and others even higher-up in the GOP.)

This week, news on the Photo ID scam front from Georgia, Arizona and Missouri, where the laws have been repeatedly struck down by courts as blatantly unconstitutional. Yet the democracy-haters in favor of these laws continue to leverage big-time GOP resources in their never-ending search for legal forums with friendly judges. If that doesn't work, as in Georgia, they're prepared to use the laws anyway, even if they've already been ordered not to.

The Associated Press is reporting that voters in Georgia have received letters stating they must show a photo ID to cast a ballot on Nov. 7th. In fact, that letter is wrong and the courts found it was wrong before many of the letters went into the mail...