Election Watchdog Conference in Cleveland : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

Join Us & Help Save Our Elections!
CLICK HERE FOR A PDF CONFERENCE FLYER September 29th-30th, 2006
Friday - 6pm to 10pm; Saturday - 9am to 9pm
Cuyahoga County Community College
Metropolitan Campus
2900 Community College Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115
Click here for a map

Speakers
Mark Crispin Miller * Bev Harris * Bob Fitrakis
Greg Coleridge * Steve Freeman
Richard Hayes Phillips * Ron Baiman * Kathy Dopp
Jonathan Simon * Victoria Lovegren
Bruce O’Dell * Nancy Tobi * Bob Koehler
Harvey Wasserman * Teresa James * Ron Olson * Stuart Wright
Pete Johnson * Adele Eisner * Werner Mendenhall * Jerry Adams * Dan Lucas

Candidates for Ohio Governor: Bob Fitrakis, Bill Peirce, and James Lundeen
Candidates for Ohio Lieutenant Governor: Lee Fisher
Candidates for Ohio Secretary of State: Tim Kettler and Jennifer Brunner
Documentary filmmakers: Dorothy Fadiman, Laura Paglin, Jeff Kirkby, and others.
Conference Information
Objectives * Public Concerns about Election Integrity
Workshops * Conference Registration
Co-sponsorship / Tabling Requests * Donate
Volunteer for the We Count conference
Lodging/Accommodations for Out-of-towners
Thanks to Our Sponsors!
Velvet Revolution * Election Defense Alliance
51 Capital March * Black Box Voting * CASE-Ohio * Clamor Magazine * Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism * Cuyahoga County Green Party * Democracy For New Hampshire * Democracy.Com * ElectionFraudNews.org *
Farhad Sethna, Immigration Attorney * Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network * J30 Coalition * Laura Paglin ("No Umbrella") * Missourians for Honest Elections * Northeast Ohio American Friends Service * Northeast Ohio Sierra Club * Ohio Democracy Project * Ohio Vigilance * Ohio Voter Reform * OpEdNews.org * People for the American Way *
Progressive Democrats of America - Ohio * The World Can't Wait * Voices of Cleveland & Beyond Productions
Conference Objectives

EDUCATE: We will warn conference participants about the dangers of electronic voting machines, the privatization of elections and the many other ways that the will of the people has been, and will continue to be, subverted...unless we act.

ACTIVATE: We will provide opportunities for election-integrity and democracy activists to collaborate and organize to build a grassroots election-integrity and democracy movement.

MOTIVATE: Our speakers will inspire participants to “get educated and get involved” to take our elections back and thereby to take our democracy back.

PREPARE: Movement leaders will be on hand to recruit and prepare volunteers to monitor, gather information, investigate and perform other roles needed for the Nov 2006 elections. They will provide educational materials, templates and other resources to citizens so they can play key operational roles in ensuring our votes count in all elections.

CONNECT: The conference will help people “plug in” to the election-integrity and democracy movement at both local and national levels. We will provide opportunities for citizens to become part of the movement—as organizers, monitors, investigators, analysts, independent journalists and more.

PROMOTE: We will use the conference to spotlight national attention on the justifiable and growing concern about the fate of our nation, focusing on the paramount role of elections as the foundation of democracy.

INSPIRE: The conference will inspire us to remain activist in this crucial and profoundly important civic issue and to stay strong in the struggle to reclaim our once-great nation.
Why Should You Attend?

Here are some of the key areas of growing public concern about elections that this conference will address....
Eroding Public Confidence: Tribune Media Services’ Bob Koehler wrote, on 6/14/06: A Vote of No Confidence, “People across the political spectrum have begun waking up to the immense risks posed by electronic voting. For instance, conservative CNN commentator Lou Dobbs recently weighed in that, "The security of our elections and the integrity of our democracy is in jeopardy. Nationwide, there is concern and even alarm that electronic voting machines are simply too easily compromised and vulnerable to fraud.”
See an outstanding clip from a forum discussing how each one of us needs to get involved and fight back.

See more videos at EDA TV's video blog!

Acknowledgement by Experts that the 2004 Election was Stolen: “Was The 2004 Election Stolen?” by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. June 1, 2006 article from Rolling Stone,
Zogby Poll, published May 11, 2006, show most people feel the 2004 elections were rigged (exception: Fox viewers.) DKOS dairy here

Acknowledgement that Electronic Election Machines are Easily Hacked: Recent Black Box Voting report showing worst security flaws ever: TSX Study and a few of the effects: Pennsylvania's Michael Shamos sequestered all Diebold touch-screens, California is invoking emergency procedures, The state of Iowa is trying to figure out a way to scrub Diebold clean.

Voting machine security vulnerabilities released by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law 7/1/06Press Release; Executive Summary; Full Report

Cuyahoga County – Specific Concerns since May 2nd election
In addition, there are many concerns with the May 2nd election in Cuyahoga County: Lost memory cards (undocumented chain of custody of memory cards and other instruments); Inability to “tightly” reconcile ballot counts; Electronic transmission of polling-place vote counts from “uploading sites”; Appointment of election-review teams to assess “what went wrong” in the May election; Training manuals which were incomplete, misleading and sometimes wrong; Massive confusion and procedural errors made by polling officials.

A Single Person Could Swing an Election 6/27/06: The experts concluded in a report issued recently that it would take only one person, with a sophisticated technical knowledge and timely access to the software that runs the voting machines, to change the outcome.

Severe Conflicts of Interest Plaguing Election Administration: Kenneth Blackwell’s Oct 2005 “special notice” telling county BOE’s that they need not post election results at the polling place. Blackwell is known to have invested in Diebold stock. And, from June 7th New York Times Editorial “Block the Vote, Ohio Remix”, “there is one clear way that Ohio's election system is corrupt. Decisions about who can vote are being made by a candidate for governor. Mr. Blackwell should hand over responsibility for elections to a decision maker whose only loyalty is to the voters and the law.”
See you at We Count 2006! Register Today!

Cleveland Indy Media Center