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View Full Version : NY Voting Rights Activists! - Dec. 14th night out...



reprehensor
12-08-2005, 09:12 PM
"Time is runnin' out... Let's roll."
-Neil Young.

How Can We Restore the Integrity of Our Electoral System?
Let's Talk About the Bottom Line

What: "A Call for Honest Elections: How Electronic Voting Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do About It"

Where: The Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist, 40 E. 35th Street, New York

When: Wednesday, December 14th at 6:30 p.m.

The most basic step toward building the type of America we want is putting people in office who share our vision. If the way we cast and count votes is broken, nothing else can get fixed.

From lost votes to hackable software, the electoral system is broken. Noted authors and activists are coming to New York to talk about what can be done. Can you join in?

The event is called "A Call for Honest Elections: How Computerized Voting Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do About It", and it's on Wednesday, December 14th at 6:30 p.m. The program will feature musical satire, illuminating discussion, and activist networking and action.

This event, which will be a launching pad for effective action, will be held at The Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist, 40 E. 35th Street, New York, NY. Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors/students/fixed or low income. (Your money can have more impact for a $50 or $100 ticket - you'll receive a signed copy of Mark Crispin Miller's recent book and you'll be contributing to the great work of New Yorkers for Verified Voting and TrueMajority's SpeakEZ. (http://action.truemajority.org/TrueMajority/events/speakez12_14_05nyc/details.tcl))

The discussion will be led by panelists who are well-known advocates of electoral reform:

Mark Crispin Miller, author of FOOLED AGAIN: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election Why They’ll Steal the Next One, Too (Unless We Stop Them)
Rachel Maddow, Host of Air America's "The Rachel Maddow Show"
Robert Fitrakis, co-author of How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election and Is Rigging 2008
Bo Lipari, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Verifiable Voting

We also need dedicated volunteers to help at the event, including seating, admission, tabling, sign-ups, etc. If you can help, please write to SpeakEZ@truemajority.org and include your name, the date and times you are available, and any task preferences.

This is a 501(c)(3) event sponsored by New Yorkers for Verified Voting, TrueMajority's SpeakEZ, and Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities (BLSP).

Reserve your seat now for this important event! Your participation will help spread the word and create critical mass to make this an issue not to be ignored! Meet like-minded folks and make a difference for all of us.

Many thanks,
SpeakEZ Coordinator

Mark Crispin Miller, author of the recent FOOLED AGAIN: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They’ll Steal the Next One, Too (Unless We Stop Them) (purchase here) is a professor of media studies at New York University and a well-known public intellectual. His writings on film, television, propaganda, advertising and the culture industries have appeared in numerous journals and newspapers, including The Nation and The New York Times. He is the author of The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (2001) and Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney’s New World Order (2004). A frequent commentator on TV, radio and the Internet, Miller has appeared on Frontline, The PBS Newshour, The O’Reilly Factor, Washington Journal, as well as many other television shows, and has been a guest on countless radio programs. He is a regular commentator on Air America, appearing often on "Morning Sedition" and "The Al Franken Show."

Rachel Maddow hosts "The Rachel Maddow Show," the daily morning news show at Air America Radio. Rachel has a Doctorate in Politics from Oxford University and a degree in Public Policy from Stanford. Her background is in commercial radio (WRSI, WRNX) and political activism. She lives in New York City and West Cummington, Massachusetts, where she and her fellow 774 Cummingtonians vote by making big X's on paper ballots with a golf pencil. The town clerk then drops the ballots in a box, turns a big crank that rings a bell, and somehow magically the Democrats always win.

Robert Fitrakis is a Political Science Professor at Columbus State Community College in Ohio, and has a long political, legal, and journalism background. Fitrakis was an Election Protection attorney on November 2, 2004 in Franklin County in Ohio, and he and Harvey Wasserman most recently co-wrote How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election and Is Rigging 2008 (purchase here). He is the Executive Director of the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism (CICJ) and has published the Free Press since 1992 and acted as editor since 1993. Fitrakis earned a J.D. in 2002 and his Ph.D is in Political Science. Dr. Fitrakis is a frequent speaker on political, labor and social policy issues at national academic and political conferences.

Bo Lipari is the Director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, a citizens group working for secure, reliable, accessible, and verifiable standards for voting systems and elections. A professional software engineer for 20 years, Bo has developed software for companies both large and small. Like many computer professionals, Bo is concerned about the rush to use touch screen electronic voting machines in our elections. He has been speaking and organizing all over New York State alerting people to the problems with electronic voting, and the potential for compromising the integrity of our elections.