Monday, December 10, 2007

9/20/07 CCBOE Excellent Public Forum: Chris Nance, Assist. SoS, answers questions and presents about SoS EVEREST testing

Why, in our sit and wait and guess period imposed by Brunner's EVEREST testing, maybe while her selected BOE officials, politicians and vendors turn the unredacted testing reports into their redacted versions for public consumption (with no independent citizen oversight) on Friday, December 14 - might we question Brunner's highly-delayed, questionably secretive to "outsiders" (us) testing process?

Listen to this portion of the second Q&A Session from the CCBOE's excellent 9/20/07 public forum on voting machines, after Chris Nance, Assistant Secretary of State made his presentation about the then-just starting SoS EVEREST testing.

At some near point, I will explain more about my questions, including about the new, non-current Diebold equipment that she had planned to test; about the SysTest apparent conflict of interest; and about handing over her decision to Ohio legislators, not the people when I have the time it takes about this rather complicated subject. It is one made no less complicated by the SoS, especially as she last week, before the redacted reports are to be released on Friday, December 14, and certainly before any adequate thought can be given to those testing results, began pushing Cuyahoga into a lose-lose decision about changing from a "known evil" for the 2-month-hence presidential primary election, into an unknown, very possibly equal evil (still the same closed loop of irresponsible, private vendors and insider hackable machines.)

Where was the move toward actual viable solutions even 6 months ago, from the previously "revealed"problems over the past 4 years?
And regarding the "matrix" of those years of previous reports' conclusions, that concept was suggested by the Voting Rights Institute, technology sub-work-group last April, where it was offered to be done for free, from this group who collectively has and is intimately familiar with all of those reports. As usual, our attention then was diverted, and stopped.

And for more information about the citizen involvement and oversight ....that never ensued, see
"Has Cuyahoga been set up for failure?" http://citizensboe.blogspot.com/2007/12/has-cuyahoga-been-set-up-for-failure.html
and "SoS Brunner's consideration of citizens in the election reform process"
http://citizensboe.blogspot.com/2007/12/sos-brunners-consideration-of-citizens.html

For now, just listen and maybe learn.


2. And here's Chris Nance's presentation about SoS Brunner's machine testing on 9/20. Listen to the "baby and bathwater" statement. What does it mean to you? I'm afraid that from Brunner's last week's sudden,"worry and concern " about DRE's in the 2-month hence March 4, presidential primary, despite years of previous evidence pointing to long-ago decertification, that the "baby" she wants us and the nation to hold are the insider-hackable, NON-"mitigatable," (despite many possible unwieldy and detailed dictums to come,) and inoperable machines - both DRE's and OptiScans - made by the same private, proprietary, irresponsible, though power- and money-wielding corporations, who along with politician friends, brought us to the current mess citizens' elections are in. And the "draining bathwater" is our memory of same, along with any sense of empowerment that these are and always have been OUR elections, and that even she is working for us.



2 comments:

Unknown said...

You go grrl! You raise interesting questions. I'm impressed that you were considered respectfully and answered honestly.

However, I wish they had more metrics to share. You brought a lot of carefully researched detail to the table. They were not prepared with the same level of details. The SOS office should be providing us with documents relating to how Everest team members were chosen and by who.

Far too often, these consultants are political payback schemes.

BTW, Marge SO reminds me of Ellen DeGeneres.

Unknown said...

You go grrl! You raise interesting questions. I'm impressed that you were considered respectfully and answered honestly.

However, I wish they had more metrics to share. You brought a lot of carefully researched detail to the table. They were not prepared with the same level of details. The SOS office should be providing us with documents relating to how Everest team members were chosen and by who.

Far too often, these consultants are political payback schemes.

BTW, Marge SO reminds me of Ellen DeGeneres.