Put Them Under Oath
For years we have had this standoff. Voting machine companies submit their products to “independent” testing labs in Alabama that they pay to inspect the new products. Then they tell potential buyers how onerous the testing process is. I have personally heard this claim three times at public meetings in Iowa.
Meanwhile users complain mightily about erratic machines that misbehave, crash, lose votes or have too many votes, have dead batteries or won’t boot up when the polls open.
How can this happen after such thorough testing? Most of us suspect the testing is really a case of “Whoever pays the piper calls the tune.” Vendors pay the inspectors to approve the machines and they get the approval they paid for.
We get the machines.
Now FINALLY someone is doing something about this standoff and she needs your help. She is in California–wouldn’t ya know–but she seems to be asking for everyone’s help. She is state senator Debra Bowen. She is holding hearings in the legislature and she wants to subpoena these testers from Alabama.
Last week she merely “invited” them to attend a hearing. They forgot to RSVP. So did the voting machine companies. She is ready to try again but she cannot issue subpoenas on her own.
So your assignment is to contact the California state senate rules committee. They are generally believed to be sympathetic, but need public support before they go ordering people in other states to come to Sacramento to get grilled.
Here they are. Use the phone, the fax, email, or all three:
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Senator Don Perata (Chair) D
(916) 651-4009
District office (510) 286-1333
Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov
Fax (510) 286-3885 Perata
Senator Jim Battin (Vice-Chair) R
(916) 651-4037
Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov
Fax: (951) 653-9524 Battin
Senator Roy Ashburn R
(916) 651-4018
senator.ashburn@sen.ca.gov
Fax: (661) 323-0446 Ashburn
Senator Gilbert Cedillo D
(916) 651-4022
Fax (916) 327-8817 Cedillo
Senator Debra Bowen D - She is on the rules committee and
is also the chairperson of the Senate Elections Committee.
EMAIL ONLY
Debra@debrabowen.com
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You know this will never happen in Iowa. So if you want it to happen at all, act now to encourage these California state senators. Tell them the whole country is watching.