[CitizensTruth] [Fwd: ACTION ALERT!!!] Oppose Illinois HB 85, related to internet voting

[Geri Perry]

Some of you may know  . . .

that the We The People Congress has  initiated a Federal Lawsuit to ban 
all electronic voting. This lawsuit is headed for trial. Discovery has 
begun and then the jury will decide the law. Let's hope that's what they 
will actually be allowed to do. see: 
http://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/UPDATE/Update2009-05-11.htm

In the meantime, Illinois will entertain another bill which it has 
little business "entertaining". See info below, and call appropriate 
officials ASAP.


-------- Original Message --------

*URGENT!!!!!

*Please go to our website at http://ballotintegrity.org/  to see the 
full details.

PLEASE SPREAD WIDELY!!!!!!

*Please call your* *Illinois state Senator AND Governor Pat Quinn's 
office*  to OPPOSE  /_*Illinois HB 85*, which seeks to establish an ad 
hoc_/ /_commission_/ to investigate INTERNET VOTING.

*    Don't know your Senator?  
    Look here: 
http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx *

*    Pat Quinn's office: 
    (Phone: 217-782-0244* *or **312-814-2121**)*

WHY OPPOSE THE COMMISSION:

Since the bill establishes a COMMISSION and NOT a COMMITTEE it is 
_*not*_ subject to the usual review or input from the public, internet 
security and voting experts.  As such, the commission can "rule" to 
suggest a *_vendor_* for internet voting without the benefit of fully 
understanding the insecurities of internet voting or the fact that there 
is no verifiable paper ballot as */_required_/ *by the Illinois Election 
Code.
=0 A
I THOUGHT THAT INTERNET VOTING IS SECURE:
While many transactions have been conducted online safely, all systems 
are still vulnerable to attack--even the Pentagon has been hacked into.
 For more information:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/07/china.hackers/index.html

I THOUGHT THAT INTERNET VOTING WOULD BENEFIT US CITIZENS LIVING ABROAD, 
INCLUDING US MILITARY PERSONNEL:
ALL ILLINOIS VOTERS should demand a verifiable /*paper ballot*/ which 
can be easily read, marked, accurately counted and secured, especially 
in the event of a recount or close election.  ALL military personnel and 
those living abroad still have that ability NOW to vote with a military 
or overseas paper absentee ballots. 

The Pentagon tried to introduce internet voting for its military, but it 
was a /_complete failure_/, due among other problems, its vast 
insecurity.  So porous was the system that the Pentagon _/*CANCELED 
*/_*internet voting.  *

See: http://news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/2589/favicon.ico

According to Dr. Rebecca Mercuri, computerized voting expert--the 
military and ex-pats have the ability NOW to establish precincts in 
overseas military bases as well as all overseas embassies.  _The fact 
is, the need for internet voting is not justified_.

In a document regarding internet voting over *_24 computer security and 
computerized voting experts_* have determined that inte rnet voting or 
the even a pilot program for internet voting is just /_not appopriate 
due to inherent insecurity_/:

Here is what they said: 

"Given this list of problems, there is ample reason to be skeptical of 
internet voting proposals. Therefore, the principles of operation of any 
internet voting scheme should be publicly disclosed in sufficient detail 
so that anyone with the necessary qualifications and skills can verify 
that election results from that system can reasonably be trusted. Before 
these conditions are met, /*“pilot studies” of internet voting in 
government elections should be avoided, because the apparent “success” 
of such a study absolutely cannot show the absence of problems that, by 
their nature, may go undetected. *Furthermore, potential attackers may 
choose only to attack full-scale elections, not pilot projects.*
**The internet has the potential to transform democracy in many ways, 
but permitting it to be used for public elections without assurance that 
the results are verifiably accurate is an extraordinary and unnecessary 
risk to democracy.
*/
You can see the entire document here.
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/downloads/InternetVotingStatement.pdf

INTERNET VOTING IS JUST FOR THOSE PEOPLE OVERSEAS--HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
One can make a claim that with any vote lost, (or stolen) our democracy 
suffers, our self-determination denied.  An internet voting pilot 
program may turn into a fully run el ection--with no verifiable paper 
ballot, no observers at the poll, no election judges, no observers when 
ballots or materials are dropped off or counted. Our elections would be 
in the hands of a private server.  Is this something that we want?  I 
would say emphatically NO!

It would be a fully FAITH BASED election--worse than those conducted now 
with privatized, computerized voting.

Please just take a few minutes and voice your concern.
Please tell them you your name and address.  
To make them accountable to you--please also ask your Senator to write 
you back as to how they will vote on the bill and WHY.

Use the body of this message for talking points  OR go to our website 
www.ballot-integrity.org

______________ the bottom line is this:

Internet voting is insecure, unverifiable, and a strict violation of 
Illinois election code which requires a voter verifiable paper ballot 
for all voters!
I urge you to oppose HB 85, and the establishment of a commission for 
internet voting.


Thank you!

Melisa Urda
Illinois Ballot Integrity Project








 



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