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Voter Confidence Committee
of Humboldt County, CA
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VCC History
VCC PRESS RELEASE
June 27, 2007 - The Voter Confidence Committee (VCC) announces the release of its Report on Election Conditions in Humboldt County, California. The report contains an evaluation of the most recent local election (November 7, 2006), put in the context of widespread national electoral problems, and offers solutions that can be implemented locally. The VCC is a proponent of hand-counting paper ballots and is a strong critic of electronic voting machines which often fail, are not secure, and count the votes in secret.
VCC PRESS RELEASE
June 19, 2006
November 11, 2005
To download the results for the parallel election, please
click the following link (or use "save target as" to save it to your
computer to open).
PE Poll Data, Arcata City Hall - 11-8-05.xls
Stay tuned for a press release to better explain these
results. We had around 50% participation from voters at Arcata City Hall.
November 9, 2005
FOR A PRELIMINARY WRAP UP OF THE PARALLEL ELECTION, CLICK HERE. Our actual results will be coming soon.
FOR THE HUMBOLDT COUNTY'S RESULTS, CLICK HERE.
FOR STATEWIDE RESULTS, CLICK HERE.
EVENT: NOVEMBER 8, 2005 - Volunteers Needed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Local Citizens Group To Monitor Special Election
Press Release - Parallel Election (Word Format)
The
Voter Confidence Committee of Humboldt County (VCC) will be conducting a
Parallel Election on November 8th to help verify the tally of
official votes cast on electronic voting machines containing trade-secret
( proprietary ) software that is kept hidden from election officials and the
public at large.
Voters in some precincts may be asked to cast a second unofficial vote outside their official voting places immediately after casting their vote on Diebold election machines, explained VCC principal Dave Berman. This will allow for statistical comparisons between the second set of vote totals and the official count.
Diebold
has been under heavy scrutiny for alleged employment of felons, internal memos
discussing programming loopholes, partisan fundraising activities of executives
and dozens of examples of vote tally discrepancies. On July 29, 2005, California refused to certify Diebold s
TSx machines. Humboldt County
elections use Diebold s Accu-Vote machines and GEMS software.
Although
California did pass a law requiring a verified paper trail for all electronic
voting machines, it will not go into effect until 2006.
According to an October 28, 2005 press release at www.calvoter.org,
voters in nine California counties will vote on paperless electronic voting
machines in the Nov. 8th Special Election.
Such conditions ensure an inconclusive outcome by eliminating the ability
to recount ballots to verify that they are counted as voters intended.
The
VCC has become part of a rapidly developing network of election reform and
watchdog groups through the U.S. In
the past six months, Parallel Elections have been held in Florida, Ohio and San
Diego, CA.
We ve
been making some amazing contacts and the cooperation has been great, Berman
said. You can learn everything
you need to know about how to run a Parallel Election by visiting www.studycaliforniaballots.org.
The
VCC is looking for volunteers to enable the Parallel Election to cover more
polling places (contact Dave Berman at 707-845-3749 or blog@guvwurld.org).
Selected poll sites will be announced on Election Day.
After the polls close, Parallel ballots will be counted by hand, in
public, at a location also announced on Election Day.
Participation rates in recent Parallel Elections have exceeded 50%.
Voter participation is voluntary.
Media contact:
Dave Berman
707-845-3749
blog@guvwurld.org.
For more information on the VCC, visit www.voterconfidencecommittee.org or attend the group s weekly open meetings, Mondays at 6pm, at the Liquid Caf in Eureka s Burre Center.
JULY 21, 2005
SUCCESS! Arcata Passes the Voter Confidence Resolution
Arcata passed the Voter Confidence Resolution shortly before
midnight on a 3-2 vote. Council members Harmony Groves, Dave Meserve, and
Paul Pitino voted in favor, with Mayor Machi and Council member Mark Wheetley
dissenting. Mayor Machi expressed personal support for the resolution, but
did not feel, as Mayor, he could pass it. Council member Wheetley felt he
needed more information.
Thanks to everyone who came out to support our efforts!
SUPPORT STILL NEEDED: Arcata City Council Meeting, July
20th,
7:00 p.m.
At the July 6th meeting, the Arcata City Council, at
midnight, halted the meeting and tabled the vote on the passage of the Voter
Confidence Resolution until the July 20th meeting. Please come if you
couldn't, come again if you did, and voice your support for the City
Council taking this step to ensure Voter Confidence!
SUPPORT NEEDED: Arcata City Council Meeting, July 6th,
7:00 p.m.
The Arcata City Council will vote on the passage of the Voter
Confidence Resolution. Please come and voice your support for the City
Council taking this step to ensure Voter Confidence!
Introduction to the Voter Confidence
Resolution:
Wednesday, June 29th, 6-8 p.m., Redwood Peace and Justice Center, 1040 H St.,
Arcata
This will be an introduction to the Voter Confidence
Committee, the VC
Resolution (Word format), current VCC campaigns, as well as a screening of
the movie "Votergate". See the flyer
here (in .pdf format).
Thursday, June 16th, Voting Systems and Procedures Panel (VSPP)
Meeting
10:00 a.m. Capitol Building, Sacramento
A group of VCC members and affiliates will be taking a
one-day trip to Sacramento to attend the VSPP hearing on voting machines, where
Diebold hopes to get some of its equipment certified. Our goal is to
oppose Diebold specifically as well as proprietary (privately owned and secret)
software and hardware in general. Our goal is to also show support for the
Open Voting Consortium (www.openvotingconsortium.org),
which promotes the use of open code (freely available and owned by the public)
software on recycled home/business PCs.
If you are interested in participating in this meeting,
please contact us.
You may also write the chair of the VSPP, Bruce McDannold (bmcdanno@ss.ca.gov)
to state your concerns about voting machines. These e-mails should be sent
by 5:00 p.m. Thursday, June 9th (which doesn't give you much time). You
may also sign a petition at http://election-reform.us/petition.html.
Eureka City Council Presentation
June 7th, 6:30 p.m., City Hall - the Voter Confidence Committee will give a
presentation to the Eureka City Council on Preferential Voting. Please
come and show your support for preferential voting in Eureka!
News on the Town Hall Forum
Our Eureka Town Hall Forum on Ranked-Choice Voting was a tremendous
success. See the coverage we got below, as well as pre-forum coverage:
5-1-05
- Eureka Reporter - Councilmembers, Voter Confidence Committee Hold RCV Forum
4-29-05
- Eureka Times-Standard - Group plugs ranked-choice voting at forum
4-21-05
- Eureka Times-Standard - RCV would curb community divisiveness
March, 2005 - TOWN HALL FORUM!
The Voter Confidence Committee is co-organizing with Eureka City Council members
Chris Kerrigan and Mike Jones a town hall forum on Ranked Choice Voting in
Eureka. This is a rare opportunity to show support for a better voting
system.
The forum will include a presentation on Ranked Choice Ballots as well as a
discussion where members of the public can voice their opinions and ask
questions.
Please help us make a better voting system for Eureka by joining us at the
town hall forum!
April
28
6-8 p.m.
Wharfinger Building
Eureka