Speed Dating

ADA Hawaii recently sponsored a unique political event. Speed dating for political candidates.

Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District race has attracted so many candidates that the traditional forum format just didn't seem to meet the needs of either the candidates hoping to deliver their personal message to voters or the voters wishing to differentiate one candidate from anther.

The solution was a speed dating format where each candidate spent a brief period of time chatting with a each of seven small groups of voters. More personal time and candid interaction was the goal.

Read about it HERE.

NYC ADA on Voting Machines

Good afternoon, Chairman Felder, and members of the Government Operations Committee. I am Evelyn Jones Rich, Chair, City Issues Committee, New York City Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). I am pleased to associate NYC ADA with the views of our colleagues from New Yorkers for Verified Voting in urging the Committee Members to sponsor, report out of Committee and adopt Resolution 131 and Resolution 228. Thanks to Councilman Peter Valone Jr. from my old stomping ground in Astoria who is an early sponsor of this legislation.

First, about NYC and National ADA. New York City ADA is the local affiliate of Americans for Democratic Action, an independent, liberal, political organization, founded in 1947 and dedicated to promoting individual liberty and economic justice through education and political action. Our past members include Eleanor Roosevelt and Hubert Humphrey. Our current members include Congressmembers Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, Borough President Scott Stringer, and City Council Persons, Gale Brewer and G. Oliver Koppel.

Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) after the 2000 Presidential election disaster and authorized $3.8 billion to help states upgrade voter equipment and establish state-wide voter registration data bases.

HAVA formed the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to help states spend the federal dollars on voting systems and create a process to certify voting equipment.

Delays up and down the line mean that New York State is last in voting reform. Voting machine manufacturers are promoting Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines - particularly "touch screen" models - and have launched a multi-million marketing campaign to convince state election officials to certify them.

Touch screen voting machines rely on computers to count votes but there is no back-up copy in case of a crash and no way to detect tampering. There is no opportunity to observe the counting of the votes. Believe it or not, in the U.S. today, a majority of the electorate casts ballots on computers that run software that is hidden from view and lacks any independent way of verification.

NYC ADA passed a resolution in February 2006 supporting Precinct Based Optical Scanning (PBOS) which insures that the voter’s intent is accurately recorded on the legal ballot of record.

Specifically, we support the use of paper ballots hand-marked by voters. We favor the use of ballot-marking devices by voters with disabilities and voters in the state's minority language communities. These three options represent, in our view, the only way, at this time, to provide both accessibility and transparency in voting, consistent with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). PBOS voting systems have been used for 20 years - they are time-tested, reliable, cost less and retain local public bipartisan control of elections. ADA forwarded a copy of that resolution to all members of this committee, to District Leaders, and members of Board of Elections at the local and state level.

We could dwell at length on reasons why we oppose Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Machines. Those who favor the more costly DRE's will do that!

NYC ADA supports PBOS for three basic reasons.

First, paper ballots do not rely on blind faith (as does DRE) but insure that there is a physical vote and, therefore, the ability to audit, to count and recount with both accuracy and honesty. From North Carolina to Ohio to Texas, votes have been lost or miscounted. Voting technology must be transparent. No one can observe the handling of paperless electronic ballots. The average citizen may have blind faith in computers. We, in ADA, do not!

Secondly, paper ballots enable the voter to verify that his/her vote is tabulated correctly. The paper ballot, therefore, insures the integrity of our democratic system and closes the door to the possibility of fraud. Voter participation is an important bulwark of our democracy. Yet, in the 2004 Presidential Election only 60% of eligible voters turned out. Today, the US ranks 139th out of 163 democracies in the rate of voter participation. If citizens don't think that their vote counts, they won't vote! Paper ballots protect against fraud and, thus, encourage voter participation.

Finally, those most alarmed with the use of computers in voting are computer experts! For example, Avi Rubin, Director of Computer Security Systems at Johns Hopkins University is quoted in the Baltimore Sun as saying that "it is much easier to hide malicious software than to detect it." In a 2004 election in Baltimore there were 6500 more ballots cast than voters! Rubin He also believes that it's impossible to secure an accurate vote count without a paper ballot and. He has written extensively on the reasons why so-called "electronic paper trails" are meaningless.

Vendors including Liberty, Avante, and Sequoia Pacific should not be permitted to dictate and then vet the process which undergirds our system of government and, as our representatives, you ought not permit them to do so!

City Council Resolution #131 urges the adoption of paper ballots and precinct-based optical scanners and accessible ballot-marking machines for voters with disabilities and minority languages.

Resolution #228 urges the NYC Board of Elections to hold public hearings before selecting new voting machines. It also urges public testing to verify that the machines work before selecting them.

Similar legislation (H.R. 550 - the gold standard for federal paper record bills) is pending at the national level.

It's time for all of you to step up to the plate. Support PBOS. Do it once! Do it right. Do it now! Get it right the first time!

This is also posted on the Daily Gotham's blog.

Diversity of opinion is fundamental to democracy; it is unacceptable that the leading and most diverse democracy, the United States, misrepresents minorities and women in the important industry of communications. The communications industry determines what information reaches the public and how it is presented. Minority representation in the communications industry is essential to guaranteeing a thorough coverage of pertinent issues. Although minorities have a voice through minority owned media outlets, they are underrepresented in most of the industry. The problem is aggravated by consolidation of the industry and the non-consolidation of workers. The Federal Communications Commission no longer provides accurate and vital data regarding minorities in the industry. The Institute for Women's Policy Research recently published an extensive report on the issue, despite FCC policies, entitled "Making the Right Call: Jobs and Diversity in the Communications and Media Sector." Please urge the FCC to require relevant statistics on minority representation in order to bring attention to the issue.

The report can be found HERE.

From Linlee Ziegler and Becca Cobbs

Rules

Who would have thought we would quote South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham but what he said recently about military law and 'detainees' bears repeating,

"...the rules we set up speak more about us than it does about the enemy...when we capture one of them, what we do is about us not about them. Do they deserve, the bad ones, all the rights that are afforded? No. But are we required to do it because of what we believe? Yes."

The Bush Administration and their Congressional allies would do well to heed Senator Graham before our country squanders even more of our reputation in the world community.

So Little Time...

As an intern at Americans for Democratic Action the task of choosing one thing to write about for the ADA blog is daunting. There is so much going on in this world right now that mentioning a single issue seems trivial as there are many issues that need to be addressed domestically and globally. In this entry, I would like to bring your attention to the wonderful websites that are encouraging youths across the globe to focus on issues that need our constant attention: One.org, and MoveOn.org. One.org focuses on the end of Poverty, their catch phrase being "make poverty history." MoveOn.org has been featured in many conventions asking for the furthering of Democratic action in today’s society. We have forwarded these websites to you and now ADA would like to ask you to continue to spread awareness. Pass one or both on to someone you know who would appreciate the content, or someone you know who need to read the content. Whatever you do, just pass it on.

http://www.one.org
http://www.moveon.org/

Maiah Alyse Johnson

NLDA member protests Stem Cell veto

NLDA member and former ADA intern Ramesh Padman took his outrage over President Bush's stem cell research veto to the streets. Ramesh protested outside his Rochester, NY congressman's office.

See newspaper and video coverage HERE.

The NLDA or New Leadership for Democratic Action is ADA's youth action group. For more information contact us at 202-785-5980 or email info@adaction.org

Quality vs. Quantity and the Nature of Morality

By Alan Herzfeld

Last summer, I wrote two columns in this space about stem cell research and federal policy. In one, I called on Congress to pass and President Bush to sign a bill enhancing federal support for the groundbreaking research. In the other, I commended Senator Bill Frist, a surgeon by trade, for breaking with the President and changing his stance to support the program.

The last two days have seen a great high and a terrible low for those who support scientific and medical research. First the Senate passed an already approved House bill to expand support for stem cell research. Then, today, President Bush vetoed the legislation in a heartless act that all but shuts the door on this critical research for at least another year. With the bill falling just a few votes short of a veto-proof two-thirds majority in both houses, it is highly unlikely that the veto will be overridden, and therefore the bill will not become law.

While stem cell research would not guarantee a panacea for all of the world's ills, diseases, and pains, it does open up new doors and offers the best chance for finding treatments and cures for diseases like Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and others. How President Bush can morally justify denying this kind of research is beyond me. He claims that his action is moral, that he is defending the lives of fetuses, but this is not the case. Stem cell research would have no effect on the number of abortions in this country. Instead, this action trades actual lives for potential lives.

Of course, this should come as no surprise from an administration that backs what they call a "culture of life" and what has more accurately been called a "culture of birth." The President has long been a supporter of birth, and his stance against abortion is well known. Unfortunately, he often ignores life after that point. Another stand he is well known for is being a staunch supporter of the death penalty, allowing over 150 executions while serving as governor of Texas. This presents a bizarre dichotomy for a man who claims to be in favor of preserving life at all costs. And on top of that, with this veto, Bush declares that only the quantity of life, not its quality, matter to him.

President Bush today, for the first time in his term in office, used the veto power given to him. Congress should return the favor and use its override power and allow this critical, groundbreaking, lifesaving research to go forward with federal support.

Alan Herzfeld is an incoming first year law student at Northeastern University

Galbraith Fellow Makes Waves Abroad Too!

Past ADA Education Fund Galbraith Fellow Eugene Kogan has been keeping himself and his work moving. He has spent his time since completing his project earning an advance degree at the London School of Economics and continuing to promote his work, the ADA Education Fund, and the Galbraith Fellowship.

His latest hit is from London's Guardian newspaper

CODEPINK continues working to bring the Troops Home Fast

CODEPINK, a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities, has been engaged in fasting since July 4th to raise awareness and gain support for bring the troops home. The effort is called Troops Home Fast.

If you are interested in helping them out visit them online HERE.

Pentagon Tracks Student E-mails

Pentagon Surveillance of Student Groups as Security Threats Extended to Monitoring E-Mail, Reports Show

By SAMANTHA HENIG

Chronicle of Higher Education
July 6, 2006

The Department of Defense monitored e-mail messages from college students who were planning protests against the war in Iraq and against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy against gay and lesbian members of the armed forces, according to surveillance reports released last month. While the department had previously acknowledged monitoring protests on campuses as national-security threats, it was not until recently that evidence surfaced showing that the department was also monitoring e-mail communications.

The surveillance reports -- which were released to lawyers for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network on June 15 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the organization last December -- concern government surveillance at the State University of New York at Albany, Southern Connecticut State University, the University of California at Berkeley, and William Paterson University of New Jersey. The documents contain copies of e-mail messages sent in the spring semester of 2005 detailing students' plans to protest on-campus military recruitment.

The reports are part of a government database known as Talon that the Department of Defense established in 2003 to keep track of potential terrorist threats. Civilians and military personnel can report suspicious activities through the Talon system using a Web-based entry form. A Pentagon spokesman, Greg Hicks, would not verify whether the reports released last month were follow-ups to tips from military or government personnel, or from civilians at the universities.

The government had already turned over one batch of surveillance reports to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in April, which is when the group first became aware that the Pentagon's surveillance program extended to monitoring e-mail communications. After lawyers from both sides settled a dispute over the definition of "surveillance," the Pentagon turned over the latest group of reports.

One e-mail message from the reports, which appears to be from an organizer, describes a protest planned for April 21, 2005, at SUNY-Albany. The message details students' intentions to deliver a petition to the university's president and to hold a rally at which protesters would be "playing anarchist soccer and taking part in a drum circle." The e-mail also includes information about a "Critical Mass bike ride" for later that day in which students could ride their bicycles to express "solidarity with Earth Day."

That the government would monitor such seemingly innocuous e-mail messages raises concerns about First Amendment and privacy rights, according to Steve R. Ralls, director of communications for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

"It's always both surprising and disturbing to learn that our federal government believes the exercise of constitutional liberties should be a threat to our national security," he said. "The student groups who were the subject of the Pentagon surveillance campaign were simply exercising their freedom of speech, and that is what makes our nation stronger, not more vulnerable."

Kermit L. Hall, president of SUNY-Albany, said on Wednesday that he had not yet seen the documents, but that "when it comes to any kind of surveillance, especially on the 'don't ask, don't tell' issue, I am very unsympathetic to the intrusion of the government into an area where I believe it is simply inappropriate."

He said that the university's lawyer was looking into the details of the surveillance, and would try to determine whether the e-mail messages were actively intercepted or obtained in some other way -- a distinction that would affect how the university proceeds.

The reports in question were removed from the Pentagon database following an in-house review of the Talon reporting system earlier this year, which concluded that all Talon reports must relate to international terrorist activity. As such, reports that "did not contain a foreign-terrorist-threat nexus" were removed, Mr. Hicks, the Pentagon spokesman, said in an e-mail message on Wednesday.

The Talon reporting system gained national attention in December 2005 when NBC News obtained a copy of a 400-page Department of Defense document listing more than 1,500 "suspicious incidents" that had taken place across the country. Only 21 pages were released to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, since the group requested only documents related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and student groups. Mr. Hicks would not disclose the total number of reports that have been filed under the Talon program.