Dear Fellow Americans; 

 

The attached press release is a CALL TO ACTION for all election integrity advocates and activists.  Historical and recent information regarding the security, accuracy, and integrity of the elections in Maricopa County has revealed non-compliance with state and federal statutes. Election officials have been derelict in their duties, and have made a concerted effort to deny knowledgeable election integrity activists access to the verification process. 

 

What is it that our elected representatives and elections officials have against transparency in our elections processes?  If they have nothing to hide, why are they hiding everything? Today we have the opportunity to make a difference for our future.

 

Join us by contacting your state elected representatives (Toll Free: 1-800-352-8404), your party officials, your friends and neighbors, and alert them to these threats to our democratic republic.

 

John R Brakey, Democrat, Tucson

Randy Graf,  Republican, Tucson

Dan Gutenkauf, Republican, Tempe

Michael Shelby, Democrat, Phoenix

Jim March, Libertarian, Tucson

 

------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Contacts: Offices of Sen. Karen Johnson, (602) 926-3160 fax: (602) 926-3429  Email: kjohnson@azleg.gov

              John R Brakey, 520 250-2360 Auditaz@cox.net  Jim March 916-370-0347 1.jim.march@gmail.com

 

 

Phoenix, AZ - New information regarding illegal and uncertified software used to count our vote in Maricopa County has generated serious concerns by members of all three political parties and many informed citizens.  Computer specialist Jim March and election activist John Brakey from Pima county were recently denied credentials as official observers of the pre-election logic and accuracy test by the Maricopa County Elections Department.  The two “known critics” of electronic voting were deemed to be a “security risk”, without a more definite explanation.  They want to limit our right to participate in the public election process based on our informed beliefs regarding voting systems today.

 

The Maricopa County Elections Department is resisting the activists’ efforts at transparency, in the aftermath of a recent successful public records lawsuit against the Pima County Elections Department. That suit led to the release of 300 databases, the largest release of electronic databases in the history of electronic voting.  March and Brakey emphatically state “The voting is secret, but the counting is public”  - Arizona Revised Statute 16-601 mandates “The count shall be public, in the presence of bystanders”.

 

 

While quality flaws in election software can produce unreliable vote counts, even more disturbing is that it allows for rigged elections.  To control either type of problem, a system of testing labs and a Federal bureaucracy is supposed to inspect the code in order to be certified for use in elections.  Arizona law prohibits any voting system that hasn't passed this scrutiny.  The quality of that Federal oversight process is suspect, with two of the three originally appointed test labs stripped of credentials to date for poor performance – AFTER doing the certifications for all of the Arizona voting systems.

 

Sequoia is the manufacturer of the computerized election equipment in Maricopa.  Recent revelations from a former Sequoia employee shows that an entire subsection of the Sequoia product line was withheld from all scrutiny at the Federal and state levels.  Only Sequoia knows what's in the “BPS” ballot design tool. According to their own manuals, BPS can take total control over the election database – and therefore the vote itself.  BPS is closely tied to the election operation and, by law, should have been certified.  It is integral and necessary to the whole operation of the Sequoia product line. 

 

The fraudulent withholding of BPS from outside oversight makes the entire voting system in Maricopa illegal. And that means that the county's refusal to allow technically qualified oversight is a legal and moral travesty.

 

A press conference will be held on Monday, February 4th, at 12:30pm on the Arizona Senate's lawn. Several Arizona Legislators and a tri-partisan coalition will present an official complaint regarding election department misconduct.  Copies of the public records request to Maricopa County Elections Department will be distributed to the press, political parties, and the public, giving more details about vital information which election officials are concealing.

 

Citizens, legislators, computer technicians and political activists from across the state will be uniting with a common mission, demanding transparency and legality in the operation of our elections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            John 520-578-5678  /   Jim 916-370-0347          

 

Matt Blaze PhD, University of Pennsylvania was the red team leader for the Sequoia voting system review and on Voice of the Voters August 8, 2007

 

 

Answer:  “Fatally Flawed!”  …we’re 3 to 5 years before anything better will be available.  

 

Excerpt of his report is attached.

 

For the complete report go to this site;

 

Top-To-Bottom Review of all Voting Systems in California

 

 

Secretary of State Debra Bowen began her top-to-bottom review of the voting machines certified for use in California in March 2007. The review was designed to restore the public's confidence in the integrity of the electoral process and to ensure that California voters are being asked to cast their ballots on machines that are secure, accurate, reliable, and accessible. On August 3, 2007, Secretary Bowen announced her decisions regarding which systems in the review will be permitted to be used in the 2008 elections and beyond. The following documents detail Secretary Bowen's decisions.

 

 

Our mission is to restore public ownership and oversight of elections, work to ensure the fundamental right of every “American Citizen” to vote, and to have each vote counted as intended in a secure, transparent, impartial, and independently audited election process.