[VoteRescue] URGENT: Travis Co. Citizens: Say NO to e-voting this Tuesday

[Karen Renick]

*Vote Rescue* *is calling all Travis County citizens who do not want 
their vote secretly counted this November on voting machines that are 
insecure and vulnerable to fraud!!*

*Your help is needed* at the Travis County Commissioners Court this 
*Tuesday, August 26*, during the Citizen Communication time which starts 
immediately after the Court begins at 9 AM. You may sign up to *make a 
brief statement or simply come to support* and show the Commissioners 
that Travis County voters do NOT want to spend tax dollars on more 
machines or vote on machines any longer, but want to vote on paper 
ballots that are hand counted in public view. *Please arrive by 8:45 am 
to sign up to speak and get a seat inside the room.* Bring signs if you 
would like./ (The Court's location is described in #2 below.)/

If you are NOT able to come on Tuesday, it is VERY IMPORTANT that your 
position of "MACHINES-NO -- PAPER-YES" is received by the County Judge 
and all four Commissioners by phone, fax or email BEFORE TUESDAY. 
/(Their contact info is listed in #9 below.)/

This coming Tuesday, August 26th, the five members of the Commissioners 
Court will be voting on Agenda Item #35 to allot $162,000 to the County 
Clerk who wishes to PURCHASE MORE VOTING MACHINES because of the record 
turnout expected in November. These additional machines will be used in 
the two new "Super Polls" that the County Clerk has decided to set up 
during Early Voting.

Even though VoteRescue and other groups and individuals have been 
telling the County Clerk, the County Commissioners, the Secretary of 
State, the State Legislature and our members of Congress /for years/ 
that secret vote counting is wrong and that the machines are not secure, 
no one has listened. Instead, they want us to simply TRUST that our 
votes are counted correctly. They refuse to acknowledge our demand to 
KNOW that our votes are counted correctly which is essential to our 
Right to Vote.

As many of you are already aware, the _only_ way to KNOW that the count 
is honest and accurate is to keep every step of the process (after 
privately marking one's ballot) /in full public view at the polling 
place/. It is only after the results of the hand-counted paper ballots 
are publicly posted at the polling place that the ballots should be 
transported to the county's secure storage location where they are kept 
for the length of time required by law.

We were told last week by Judge Biscoe, who heads the Commissioners 
Court, that the Clerk's request for money to buy more voting machines 
would most likely be approved and that the election in November would 
proceed as planned -- with machines.  /"You have an uphill battle"/, the 
Judge told us. And even though he said that bringing in more people 
/"would not help"/, WE know that a public outcry is now the only way to 
get our so-called "public servants" to stop and finally listen to what 
WE, the people, want and not what THEIR fellow county officials want 
just because it's easier and they can go home earlier on election night. 
Is voting about convenience or accuracy?

Now for some encouraging news: One of the Commissioners -- Gerald 
Daugherty of Precinct 3 - has told us that he will NOT support spending 
more money for new machines because he realizes what we and others have 
been saying about the machines is true. -- *It's in all our hands now to 
get the rest of the Commissioners Court "to wake up and smell the 
coffee" with a public outcry they've yet to see!*

*Here's what you need to know: *

*1.* *You must be a current resident of Travis County* to speak to the 
Commissioners on this issue.

*2.* *The Travis County Commissioners Court is located at 314 W. 11th St 
at the corner of 11^th and Guadalupe.* The room where they meet is on 
the first floor just past the elevators on your right. Parking at meters 
in the area typically isn't too bad, but since we are planning on a big 
crowd, you might have to park a little farther away or use one of the 
garages nearby.  

*3.* *When you come into the Courtroom, you will find Citizen 
Communication forms on a table to your right* which you MUST fill out if 
you intend to speak. Vote Rescue volunteers will be there to help you. 
You should then hand it to the clerk who sits near the table. She hands 
all the forms over to the Judge who will then call people two at a time 
to sit at the speaker's table.

*4.* *Though each person can speak up to 3 minutes, it is not necessary 
to take up the entire time slot - a brief statement is fine.*  Remember 
to speak from the heart to make your point and keep a respectful tone. 
Anger does not play well in these circumstances. There is a microphone 
for each speaker -- just remember to position it close enough so that 
you are talking right into it. This is how the folks at home can hear 
all your wise words as they watch on their TVs!

*5.* *A few* *Talking Points.*
So that we don't have "canned"-sounding statements being said over and 
over, here are a few ideas to choose one or two from for your message to 
the Commissioners Court. (VoteRescue volunteers will have copies of 
these talking points for speakers on Tuesday.)

A. You are requesting that the Court refuse to fund the purchase of any 
new voting machines for the County because they've been demonstrated by 
computer experts to be easy to hack without detection.

B. You don't trust electronic voting machines because their use amounts 
to "secret vote counting" which is wrong.

C. As a taxpayer, you want the Commissioners to demand your money back 
from the vendors for breach of contract.

D. You support a return to hand-counted paper ballot elections with 
citizens counting the votes and totals posted at the precinct level.

E. You are tired of having corporations in charge of our elections 
because it is /their/ trade-secret software that counts our votes.  

F. You are just plain fed up with being told to /trust/ that the 
machines are properly counting our votes. There is no way of proving this!

G. You would like to know why Travis County is still using screen-type 
machines, when many other states are now decertifying theirs and 
actually /throwing them away/ because they are worthless?

*6. Your Wrap up:*
In order to achieve true voting transparency, we, the citizens, must 
/want/ to be in charge of our elections and step up to the plate to 
oversee the entire process. Recruiting poll workers is difficult because 
elections are typically held during the work day and there are folks 
trying to change this. However, counting the ballots happens /after/ 
work is over, so millions in precincts all over our country ARE 
available to help with this critical civic task. So, to help sway the 
naysayers of public hand counts,*/ /please tell the Commissioners that 
you are willing and honored to help count the paper ballots on Election 
Night.*

*7. If you have any questions:*
Please e-mail Karen Renick at *karen at voterescue.org*

*8. Please forward this message widely to other Travis County residents. *

*9. If you can't come Tuesday, here is the contact info for the Judge 
and the four Commissioners: *

*County Judge*
Samuel T. Biscoe
314 W. 11th St., #520
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 854-9555
Fax: (512) 854-9535
sam.biscoe at co.travis.tx.us <mailto:sam.biscoe at co.travis.tx.us>

*Commissioner, Precinct 1*
Ron Davis
314 W. 11th St., #510
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 854-9111
Fax: (512) 854-4897
ron.davis at co.travis.tx.us <mailto:ron.davis at co.travis.tx.us>

*Commissioner, Precinct 2*
Sarah Eckhardt
314 W. 11th St., #530
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 854-9222
Fax: (512) 854-6446
Sarah.Eckhardt at co.travis.tx.us <mailto:Sarah.Eckhardt at co.travis.tx.us>

*Commissioner, Precinct 3*
Gerald Daugherty
314 W. 11th St., #500
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 854-9333
Fax: (512) 854-9376
gerald.daugherty at co.travis.tx.us <mailto:gerald.daugherty at co.travis.tx.us>

*Commissioner, Precinct 4*
Margaret Gómez
314 W. 11th St., #525
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 854-9444
Fax: (512) 854-9535
commissioner.gomez at co.travis.tx.us 
<mailto:commissioner.gomez at co.travis.tx.us>

To find out who _YOUR_ County Commissioner is, you must know your 
*voting precinct number*. The first digit of your voting precinct is the 
number of one of the four (4) Travis County Commissioner Precincts.  For 
example, if your voting precinct is *2*56, then your County Commissioner 
is Sarah Eckhardt because she is Commissioner of County Commissioner 
*Precinct 2.*

To find out your voting precinct number in Travis County, go to:
http://www.traviscountytax.org/showVoterNameSearch.do

*VoteRescue THANKS YOU IN ADVANCE FOR TAKING TIME OUT OF YOUR TUES. 
MORNING TO HELP THE CAUSE OF ELECTION INTEGRITY IN TRAVIS COUNTY! 
Together, we _will_ take our elections back.*
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