[Grassroots-l] Fwd: OVC in 1st by 67 votes with 12 hrs to go at Change.org

[Edward Cherlin]

I am working on getting this voting software into Sugar. You can help
to get it on the national agenda.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:  <alan at openvotingconsortium.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Subject: OVC in 1st by 67 votes with 12 hrs to go at Change.org
To: echerlin at gmail.com



Dear Friends,

Yesterday at this time, we were in 2nd place, 100 votes behind the
leader.  Thanks to our great supporters, we are now in 1st place, 67
votes ahead!  The competition is likely to mount a last minute surge,
so we can't ease up now.   Voting ends midnight Pacific tonight.  Go
to this url and vote now and take a relative or friend by the hand and
walk them through the process.

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/move_the_country_towards_transparent_election_systems
(click on the VOTE! button -- on the left with the # of votes ... now
at 360 -- it will prompt you to register)

OVC is a substantial idea that addresses a real problem, and it's a
problem where Obama can really make a difference -- and quickly.

Like it or not, the Help America Vote Act of 2002 gave the President
of the United States tremendous power over the voting system.  Unlike
other commissions (for example, the FCC) where the president appoints
the commissioners, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC)
commissioners serve at the pleasure of the president.  Other
commissions have very specific procedures and criteria for removing
commissioners.  Not the EAC.  While for political reasons, Obama is
unlikely to make sweeping changes there immediately, he does have
great authority.

Our idea at change.org has the main elements:

It calls for,

- Paper ballots (many states still have paperless voting machines)
- Uniformity (US voting system is crazy quilt of inconsistent laws,
procedures, technologies, etc)
- Open source (all federally certified voting software is secret
proprietary property of Diebold, Sequoia, et al)

The EAC is a mess and Bush showed no interest or ability to make it
work correctly.  Obama can do it and we need to let him and everyone
else know we want to see happen.

Tell a friend.  A longer explanation follows:

Thanks!

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org


**************
Dear Friends of Open Voting:

Do you know two people who could click on our Vote button today?  We
are in a position to win this Big Idea poll on Change.org -- in
response to President-Elect Obama's What Big Things Can We Accomplish
Together Now That We've Won The Election challenge.

Open Voting has moved into 2nd place and we are getting votes faster
than anyone in our category.  Please send your friends [1: sample
below] to this page and ask them to VOTE TODAY!

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/move_the_country_towards_transparent_election_systems

Why is this important?  The largest grassroots organizations
supporting President-Elect Obama have pledged to support the Top Ideas
coming out of this process at Change.org." Our idea is likely to be
attractive to the new Obama administration because it fits with his
government-by-the-people theme, and can be accomplished without a big
investment.

At some point, we need to move beyond attacking the crisis du jour and
get to some of the fundamental faults in our society.  The crisis du
jour is never a fundamental problem but is always symptomatic of
deeper underlying faults.

The voting system is exactly the kind of fundamental problem that must
be solved.  It happens that a real solution is at hand and can be
implemented with funding already available left over from HAVA (Help
America Vote Act of 2002).  We have to follow through.  That is Open
Voting Consortium's commitment every single day.

So, please, dear readers, vote for this and get more people to vote!

Thank you.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org
----------------------------------------------------------
[1] Sample letter from an Opening Voting friend with simple instructions:

Dear Jane/Joe,

I seldom ask any friends for action because it can be so annoying but
this is easy & exceedingly useful. A friend of mine Alan, a giga-geek
with a passion for open, transparent, paper ballot voting has worked
like a dog for eight years to bring Open Source Voting to actual
fruition in actual states. Open Voting could win a poll on Change.org
and move to the next round if we could get a batch more votes quickly.

If you click the link below, your browser will go to a page where
you'll see a blue box with rounded corners up to your left next to the
headline "Move the country towards transparent elections systems."
Click on Vote (there to your left) & it will prompt you to register.
Back to the page, once you've voted that blue box will turn, well,
burgundy.

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/move_the_country_towards_transparent_election_systems

This is so worthy -- your several minutes will matter for
on-the-ground real democracy. I'm grateful.

Cheers,
Your Friend




-- 
Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name
And Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai