County Residents Stop Display of Fraudulent Voting Technology. Rally Jan. 7th 6PM in Vallejo

By Douglas MacDonald

Citizen Journalism Contributor

Vallejo, CA - Under public pressure, the Solano County Voter Registrar's January 7th public display of Diebold electronic touch screen voting machines has been cancelled, however the County plans several future events displaying this fraudulent technology. The Community-Labor Alliance will hold a press conference, rally, and funeral procession for democracy against Solano County's planned use of Diebolds secretive and unverifiable vote counting systems on January 7th, 6PM at 1035 Indianna St, Vallejo. The CLA will unveil their strategyto remove Diebold machines from the County during the rally. Solano must exercise its right to send back Diebolds uncertified touch-screen machines. This must be done by January 15th before any state resolution is passed which certifies Diebolds tamper-prone machines.

Residents are demanding the County ship back the un-certified and easily manipulated machines and procure "optical scan" or like equipment from a different vendor. The County has wasted millions of dollars purchasing a fraudulent technology that can easily and secretly change votes using hidden code with results that cannot be audited. These voting machines present a clear and present danger to the last remnants of our nation's democracy and pose a further disenfranchisement of working people: * The Diebold software is not certified by the state or federal government and therefore violates federal election laws http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/04/elec04.california.machines.ap /) * Wally O'Dell the CEO of Diebold promised in a republican fund-raising letter to "deliver the votes of Ohio" to George Bush in 2004 (http://www.thenews-messenger.com/news/stories/20030828/localnews/150004 .html ) * Computer Scientists at John Hopkins University published a recent report showing that these machines are vulnerable to massive fraud (http://www.americanfreepress.net/08_25_03/Concerns_Over/concerns_over.h tml) * Even with the paper trail, these machines have privatized software that counts votes. No longer will public officials be able to check voting machines functioning for accuracy. This effectively privatizes our electoral process. (http://www.kmentor.com/socio-tech-info/archives/000132.html * The voting machine manufacturers are now asking defense industry leaders to assist in a publicity campaign to promote computerized voting. Why is the defense industry involved in the voting machine industry? Could it be to preserve their lucrative military contracts and hold on power? (http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0308/S00175.htm) When/Where: Wednesday January 7th, 6:00PM Rally in front of First Christian Church of Vallejo, CA 1035 Indiana Street (behind Sherwin Williams Paint corner of Colussa and Tennessee). A funeral procession for democracy and pickett will immediately follow the rally. For More information call 925-890-6430 and visit www.clafightback.org <http://www.clafightback.org/>

Contact info: Douglas MacDonald may be reached at doug@clafightback.org.