Topic: Electronic Voting

A new hero enters Tennessee’s history books

By Bernie Ellis | June 21, 2009 |

Every Tennessee school child learns early on that our state has been blessed with heros throughout its history. Davy Crockett at the Alamo, Alvin York in the trenches of World War I Europe – we continue to revere the honorable people who sprang from our hills and hollows with the in-borne courage to do the next right thing when they were called on to do so. There are three other heros – two long-gone now and one who is still very much alive – who helped expand our franchise and, in the process, helped save our democracy. The two deceased heros were Harry Burn and Ben West. The third hero, the one who still walks among us, is Senator Tim Burchett of Knoxville.

Harry Burn was a first-term Republican state representative from McMinn county, the youngest Tennessee state legislator serving in 1920 when women’s suffrage hung in the balance in our state. Back then, only one state was needed to ratify the Nineteenth amendment to the US Constitution, an amendment that would give women the right to vote. Like many legislators at the time, Representative Burn was under extreme pressure from sexist politicians back home to oppose the amendment, to keep women “in their place”. Some even believed that Rep. Burn was a safe bet to vote against suffrage, since he wore a red rose on his lapel, a color then (and now) that represented exclusion and disenfranchisement. But as the pivotal vote approached, «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Commentary | 2 Comments

It’s anybody’s guess: Will e-voting machines accurately tally votes?

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 30, 2008 |

The race is officially on for the Democrats with the nomination of Barack Obama and his chosen running mate, Joe Biden.  The Republican presidential nominee follows in a week.

New election. New candidates.

Same black box voting, same electronic morass masquerading as a true vote in the 2004 presidential election in many parts of the country. In what is a growing nationwide trend, Clarksville will be returning to paper ballets, according to the city’s Election Commission, but it won’t happen in time for the November 2008 Presidential election. It could have, but apparently the impetus for change, for truth in voting, was not strong enough in Montgomery County or in the state to get this job done pre-November 2008, even though the discussion of this change began in earnest last January. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment »

Starz network to host network TV premiere of David Earnhardt’s UNCOUNTED

August 19, 2008 |

NASHVILLE, TN: For the last seven months, documentary filmmaker David Earnhardt has taken UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections to more than 30 cities. During that time, he used the film as a grassroots tool to shed some much-needed light on the systemic problems inherent in our elections — including voting machines that render every vote unverifiable and un-auditable and Jim Crow-like intimidation tactics. The screenings have drawn thousands, awakening in viewers an urgent need to help fix our electoral system.

Now with a critical presidential election looming, UNCOUNTED will take the leap from grassroots organizing tool to mainstream wake-up call with a timely convergence of events that will expose its message to wider audience.

First, premium movie service provider Starz will present the world television premiere of UNCOUNTED on Starz Edge, Monday, August 25 at 10:30 p.m. (et/pt), and Starz Cinema on Thursday, August 28 at 10:00 P.M.

“As this is one of the most important elections in our nation’s history, premiering this thought-provoking documentary is not only timely, but necessary viewing.”

– Nancy Silverstone, Vice President of Program Acquisitions at Starz Entertainment.

Next, the distribution company, Disinformation, will release the documentary to retail outlets, including Amazon.com and Netflix, on Tuesday, August 26. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Business, Events, News, Politics | 1 Comment »

Jesse Jackson Jr: United States electoral system is “fragile”

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 6, 2008 |

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. cites “UnCounted” in warnings about the fragile state of our electoral system; documentary singled out as important illustration of the problem

NASHVILLE, TN (8.6.08) – In a statement about the fragile state of our electoral system, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., singled out Nashville-based filmmaker David Earnhardt’s election integrity documentary, UNCOUNTED: The New Math of American Elections, saying that it offered “warnings about the fragile state of our electoral system” and “evidence of how voting machines themselves can create problems.”

UnCounted made its premiere in November, 2007, to a standing room only crowd at Nashville’s Belcourt Theater, where Clarksville Online was the only media present to cover the event. Clarksville Online and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in December, 2007, teamed up with Uncounted producers David and Patricia Earnhardt to co-sponsor an equally packed screening of this film in Clarksville. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News, Opinion, Politics | No Comments

Your Email action is needed now to ensure verifiable voting in 2008 elections

February 11, 2008 |

The most important message to send to TN lawmakers is: We must have paper ballots in time for the 2008 Presidential election!

The house state & local government committee rolled our bill (HB 1256) from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12 – this coming Tuesday. It will be heard at 10:30 in Room 16 at Legislative Plaza.

The senate state & local government committee will be hearing our bill (SB 1363) that same day at noon in Room 12.

We expect (but aren’t sure) that both bills will pass out of the committees. The next stop is the Finance, Ways & Means committee where the members will consider how the bill would be funded. This is where we anticipate the most difficulty.

However, there are reasons to be hopeful «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | 2 Comments

NYT to blast e-voting; TACIR urges verifiable votes in Tennessee

By Christine Anne Piesyk | January 5, 2008 |

“A long way from where we started…”

With those words activist Bernie Ellis, a staunch advocate for traceable, verifiable voting records, cited a BRAD BLOG report announcing the publication of a major New York Times article on the issues surrounding electronic voting.

According to The BRAD BLOG, the NYT article includes a graphic of an exploding voting booth and a warning that your vote may be “lost, destroyed, miscounted, wrongly attributed or hacked.” The story is reportedly titled “The Bugs in the Machine.” The story claims that electronic voting machines may create far greater problems than hanging chads and cites a ten percent failure of electronic voting machines. http://www.bradblog.com «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | 1 Comment »

TACIR commissioners recommend voter-verified paper ballot for Tennessee

By Bernie Ellis | December 17, 2007 |

The TACIR “Trust But Verify” report recommends that Tennessee move to voter-verified paper ballots to improve election integrity.

Our efforts to achieve more secure elections in Tennessee moved forward this week when the TN Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) voted unanimously to release the TACIR staff report, Trust But Verify, to the state legislature and the general public.

The TACIR Commissioners were obviously influenced by the outpouring of emails and other messages they received from many of you last week. They told us that hearing from so many people did influence their deliberations. We need that to happen again in the next 2-3 days in order to move safe elections legislation forward.

The joint legislative study committee that is considering a bill to require optical scan voting systems statewide by November, 2008 meets on Tuesday, December 18. The recommendations of this study committee and the actions it recommends to the legislature will go a long way toward determining if our elections will be secure in 2008. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion | No Comments

Since 2000, more issues than answers arise in e-voting’s short history

By Bernie Ellis | December 13, 2007 |

In the wake of 2000 election issues, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002. HAVA was intended to address the problems of accuracy and functionality such as “hanging chads”– of the voting systems then in use. HAVA’s mandate also included ensuring that all voters with disabilities have access to voting systems that would provide private and independent voting.

These changes were required in every state for the 2006 federal election. Millions of tax dollars were allocated and dispersed to the states to upgrade and buy new equipment that would incorporate these requirements. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

Voters: Demand a verifiable voting process

By Bernie Ellis | December 11, 2007 |

It’s not too late to take action on the issue of electronic voting machines and demand a “verifiable vote” through paper trail and/or auditing. Activist Bernie Ellis (right), who is featured in the film UnCounted:The Movie and who addressed a Clarksville audience on Friday, today offers a fledgling “action kit” for worried voters who want to register their concerns with state leaders. These words from Mr. Ellis:

This “action kit” will get you started (or moving faster) to register your concerns with our state leaders.

Here are three things YOU CAN DO NOW to help up ramp up the discussion for voter-verified paper ballots and mandatory random audits here in Tennessee. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment »

Voters concerned about electronic ballots flock to UnCounted screening

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 8, 2007 |

The Clarksville screening of UnCounted, a film targeting issues in electronic voting, drew fifty people to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Friday evening, filling the screening room to capacity for this special event. The film’s producer, Patricia Earnhardt, and activist Bernie Ellis, addressed the group and fielded questions about the film and the increasing controversy over the accuracy and security of electronic voting machines.

Bernie Ellis introduces “UnCounted”

Producers describe UnCounted as “an explosive documentary that shows how the election fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater fraud in 2006 — and now looms as an unbridled threat to the outcome of the 2008 election. This controversial film examines…how easy it is to change election outcomes and undermine election integrity…” «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | 1 Comment »

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