Dear Voting Forum Attendees,

Thank you for making our evening a success. We are very grateful for your concern over this issue. You are truly pioneers in your ability to size up this issue and act on your concerns by attending our forum.

NOW what? You ask.

It depends on whether you believe, with us, that if we keep plugging away at this issue, we can make a difference. Indeed, even when it seems like we aren't making a difference. . . .

How can we keep silent when our democracy is at stake with the possible loss of our vote into the black box of the electronic touchscreen voting machines? How can we keep quiet when monies will be snatched away from other needed County funds for the "monstrously expensive" voting machines (as our speaker, Dan McCrea said).

Commissioner Martin asks the question in Sunday's Intelligencer, how can we in Bucks complain about these machines, when Montgomery County officials "did not express these grave issues that have occurred in other places." In response I ask you to look at the following comment from a renowned computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University. He is reporting on his experience as election judge in Baltimore County on Election Day, November 04, 2004. 

A reporter asks: "After being an election judge, have you changed your opinion at all about these DREs?"

Avi Rubin: "I suppose [this question] disturbed me because it implied that somehow my opinion on DREs was based on some superficial measure that could change when I saw them in action. I think the question ignores the expertise of computer scientists, including me, with respect to computer security. . . . It is a common problem. The press likes to simplify the issue and boil it down to sound bites from each side to produce what they consider "balanced" stories. . . . 'And to finish his story.' . . . Well, for the record, here is my answer to questions like the ones emailed by that reporter: If we continue to use the kind of insecure DREs that were used in this election, it is only a matter of time before somebody exploits them. And the worst part is that we may never know it. . . ."

I hope you agree with Avi Rubin, Ph.D., and with our forum speakers, that these electronic voting machines are not trustworthy to count our votes accurately, as designed, even when they seem to work fine, and I hope that you are amply motivated to join with us to help our government officials to find our way to a sensible solution.

And I hope you'll be able to answer Commissioner Martin with me  by telling him that we  have the benefit of the experience of  these "other places"—other counties, other states. We need to be diligent and learn from their errors. We have not yet made the mistake of buying these machines. Montgomery County bought them in the past, perhaps not being aware of others' experience around the country. Perhaps there wasn't the outcry from voting groups against these machines then, nor the stacks of data then showing machine malfunctions, that there is now. We have the luxury of time and experience to evaluate others' mistakes. Let's use the wisdom that can come with such passing of time and not rush.

And let's not make the mistake of counties and states who say there is no problem with the electronic touchscreen machines just because they have not yet been able to detect the miscounted votes. How could they catch the mistakes without the checks and balances of a voter-verified paper ballot with an ample recount to catch errors?

Be a part of this valuable effort to preserve our democracy and we will find the perfect spot for your interest, talent, time, and skills. This is a task that other governments around the state and country have not been successful at and thus have ended up with faulty electronic touchscreen voting machines. Our government needs our help. Our fellow citizens need our help. Our democracy needs our help. We need more political will for our government to do the right thing at all levels The government, to work, needs our citizen input on this issue.. We have to be the leaders we have been waiting for. We, who live within a stone's throw of the Liberty Bell, must rise to the occasion to achieve a victory for the integrity of our vote.

Go to our web site, www.coalitionforvotingintegrity.org, to see the latest GAO (U.S. General Accounting Office) report on the foibles of electronic voting machines. You will see that we are not alone here in Bucks County in our knowledge that these machines are the wrong way to go. This has reached the congressional level of attention. Can our Commissioners, our state legislators, our federal legislators do no less than pay attention and act in a prudent and responsible way when electronic touchscreen machines are openly criticized in the GAO's report of a few days ago? 

So if you want to jump in and help forward the cause of keeping our vote the most secure it can possibly be, we request that you choose such tasks as the following: write letters to editors . . . perhaps organizing others in our group to do so, volunteer to be on call to help as needed for events, help arrange for our speakers to speak to groups, and SHARE YOUR INFO WITH OTHERS. WE MUST AWAKEN OUR FELLOW CITIZENS in and out of the government. Also, we need a personal assistant/office manager to work closely with Mary Ann Gould. This is an opportunity to learn a lot about the issue and about strategy. Ideal for retiree, especially someone with management training, or college student. Please email or call and indicate if you would be interested in meeting with us for an organizational meeting to be arranged at your convenience, and please indicate a preference to meet either before or after November 8th, since a number of you are involved in local elections.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Ruth Matheny

Co-chairperson

votingintegrity@aol.com

267.250.2879