McPherson gives Diebold thumbs up, sells-out California voters

McPherson gives Diebold thumbs up, sells-out California voters

California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson (R) opened a Pandora's Box last week by certifying Diebold's electronic voting systems for use in California elections.

There is no excuse for exposing the integrity of our election system to computer hackers, especially given the fact that a recent independent investigation by U.C. Berkeley computer experts identified serious security flaws in the Diebold machines.

Perhaps it comes as no surprise that McPherson, who was appointed by Schwarzenegger to replace Kevin Shelly (D) after he was found with his hand in the multi-billion dollar HAVA cookie jar, should rush to put one of his party's corporate sponsors in charge of elections. The CEO and top officers of the Diebold Corporation are major contributors to both the Republican Party and George W. Bush.

Read More : https://www.voteforrest.org//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=55

Email McPherson now and urge him to reverse his decision to certify Diebold. Send an email to Bruce McPherson at

bmcphers1 [at] ss.ca.gov

urging him to reverse his decision to certify Diebold. Here is a sample letter:

SUBJECT: REVERSE YOUR DECISION TO CERTIFY DIBOLD!

I urge you to reverse your decision to certify Diebold electronic voting machines in California. Your decision to certify the Diebold Optical Scan and AccuVote TSx (touch-screens) when they don’t comply with state and federal law is a slap in the face to every Californian voter.

Just two months ago, you were “not” willing to certify Diebold voting machines unless the source code was determine to be safe by independent investigators.

You now know that when Diebold submitted the machines to testing by U.C. Berkeley security analysts they found the code did not meet minimal security standards and needed to be rewritten.

Yet you have decided to ignore their findings and put the needs of a private voting machine vendor over the right of every California citizen to know their vote is accurately counted.

As Secretary of State it is your job to ensure our voting equipment provides safeguards against tampering, otherwise public confidence in our elections will be eroded and the results of any election will remain open to question.

How can you certify Diebold machines where they don’t meet state requirements that provide an audible "read-back" for blind and visually-impaired voters? How can you subject out democracy to non-transparent systems that do not use open source code or produce a voter verified paper ballot?

How can you possible go forward with certification without inviting public comment or reviewing the findings of the U.C. Berkeley security analysts?

This is completely unaccepted!

I urge you to do the right thing and rescind your certification of the Diebold electronic voting systems. The people of California deserve a thorough, rigorous testing of all electronic voting machines before they're used in our elections ever again.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]