Journalist to File Federal Lawsuits Against Use of Voting Machines and Absentee Voting
Thursday July 1, 11:25 am ET

PHILADELPHIA, July 1 /PRNewswire/ On Friday, July 2, two federal Complaints will be filed by freelance journalist Lynn Landes challenging the use of voting machines and absentee voting in elections for political office. The Complaints will be filed against MARGARET TARTAGLIONE, Chair of the City Commissioners of Philadelphia, PEDRO A. CORTES, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and JOHN ASHCROFT, the Attorney General of the United States, at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The Complaints are an unprecedented legal challenge to the use of voting machines and absentee voting. Landes specializes in voting technology and democracy issues. She is acting as her own attorney.

Landes's Introductory Statement in first Complaint: "Plaintiff challenges the use of voting machines in elections for public office as a violation of the Constitutional right to vote, to have votes counted properly, to observe the voting process effectively, and to have those rights fully enforced. The use of voting machines prevents election officials, poll watchers, Federal observers, the press, and the public from effectively observing if persons who are entitled to vote are being permitted to vote and if votes cast by persons entitled to vote are being properly tabulated. Voting machines offer substantial opportunities for technical failure and vote fraud, with minimal opportunities to detect irregularities. The long-term and widespread use of voting machines calls into question the results of both past and future elections. A separate but similar Complaint will be filed against the use of absentee voting."

After the filing Landes will be available for questions at 11 a.m. in front of the Courthouse at 601 Market Street. Copies of the Complaints will also be available at that time. Her Complaint will also be published at 1 PM, Friday afternoon, on her website at http://www.EcoTalk.org.

     Contact:
     Lynn Landes
     215-629-3553
     lynnlandes@earthlink.net