This article is specifically directed to the following people:
At Progressive Turn Out Project:
Henry Pascal
Ram Villavam
Mike Murray
And at Left Action:
John Hlinko
Your two groups, Progressive Turn Out and Left Action have sent out an email requesting people to sign the following petition:
“ it's time to bring our voting machines into the 21st century. Sign the Progressive Turnout Project's petition to tell Congress to fix our outdated voting infrastructure”
“ Tell Congress to bring our voting machines into the 21st century >>
It’s been 15 years since Florida’s hanging-chad ballot debacle, yet few states have fixed their unreliable voting systems. Congress has a duty to protect our votes, but on this core issue, it has failed.
Click below to tell Congress to fix our outdated voting infrastructure so everyone can exercise their right to vote:”
Taking a leadership role in motivating, organizing, recruiting, and pursuing a purpose driven political campaign carries with it a number of significant responsibilities. High up on this list, is the necessity to not mislead your audience, who you seek to mobilize. By not misleading them, this means that you do not present erroneous, deceitful, deceptive, and/or misleading “facts”, concepts, themes, and the like to the people which you are portending to offer leadership to. Coinciding with this, it is imperative that leaders and advocates carefully and strategically use the art of defining and “framing” their subject matter to enhance their communication effectiveness to their audience. Words and phrases do matter. This is a skill which the Repugs have elevated to a fine art, note the success of wordmaster Frank Luntz. However, they do this by using a foundation of lies, deceit, and complete fabrication. On our side, we must avoid this foundation of deceit as it invalidates and discredits any of our positions. Further, if one invokes a specific subject, it is imperative upon the “leader” to become as knowledge as possible to present and advocate for an unimpeachable position.
This is a philosophy and foundation upon which I operated on when I was fighting against electronic voting machines and which I conveyed to those in our election integrity activist group. There is no reason why it should not be your foundation as well.
All of which takes us to your petition and email blast.
Let’s start with your basic premise, “ …it’s time to bring our voting machines into the 21st century”
The problem is the entire concept of electronic voting machines. They were conceived and exist for one purpose, and one purpose only, to “FIX” elections. That means to facilitate “Tabulation Manipulation”, to rig the vote, to alter and change vote counts. Electronic voting machines exist for that purpose only. Any claims that they exist for expediency of election results are specious excuses, and nothing else. Electronic voting machines have eviscerated any semblance of transparency and accountability in the American voting system. They have made a mockery of the concept of American Democracy via a free, open and honest voting process. There exists a recent historical account of various acts of Tabulation Manipulation by electronic voting machines in American elections since their introduction in 2000. Electronic voting systems cannot ever be made secure from manipulation, period. The answer is not to “fix” a system which was created to FIX elections. The answer is to remove electronic voting machines from existence in America.
So, why is your petition and email blast so unacceptable?
Since all of you to whom this article is addressed are assuming leadership roles in the Progressive Movement, you bear a responsibility to not deceive your audience. Yet your basic premise, hook, message and petition is based on, at best, a dubious and inaccurate foundation. It is the absolute wrong message to send out to a Progressive audience.
Your groups are trying to capitalize on and capture the Bernie supporters, many of whom are becoming newly politically aware and involved, and who obviously have Progressive views. However, many of these new activists have not been exposed to extensive information about electronic voting machines. Which is why your petition is so wrong, for the reasons stated above.
Your position actually runs counter to that taken by most knowledgeable Progressives. What I see in your petition and blast is not an effort to educate new Progressive folks, but to exploit an extremely serious problem with a very superficial, misleading and inaccurate sales pitch. Thereby failing miserably in your duties and responsibilities as Progressive movement leaders.
The only acceptable solution to the problem which your petition is addressing is:
Ban all electronic voting machines and systems.
Paper ballots hand filled out
Hand Counted