The 2006 elections predictions and education

[Bussardre@aol.com]

The following is a pre-emptive strike aimed at those on this list  who will 
be pummeling this list with boasts about voter support for the  right-wing 
education agenda after the 2006 elections.
 
Yes, I am sadly predicting that both houses of Congress will still be  
controlled by the supporters of test-and-punish education reforms.  
 
What leads me to this sad conclusion is my involvement over the last  several 
months with a Jacksonville, FL study group that has been examining  problems 
with and security flaws of electronic voting machines, which are now  widely 
used across the nation. A new study that revealed several new  backdoor 
security risks that allow for easy tampering and hacking of these  machines was 
released last week, a story that got very little play in the  mainstream media. (A 
list of story links is posted at the end of this  message, for those 
interested.)  
 
The flaws found in the new study are described as a "national security  
risk." Election outcomes can be changed in a matter of seconds by a few  people. 
Maybe that is why Karl Rove is so confident his party will retain both  houses.  
If you read the book by Bev Harris posted at _www.BlackBoxVoting.0rg_ 
(http://www.BlackBoxVoting.0rg)  you will  get some frightening insights on the 
political leanings of the electronic voting  manufacturers.
 
It turns out that Florida has some of the worst election laws on the  books 
and these are the NEW laws that were supposed to correct the 2000  election 
fiasco. Even Jimmy Carter's group, which monitors elections in Third  World 
countries, won't monitor Florida elections because of our laws.   Our laws DO NOT 
even allow for us to count the paper ballots that go into the  optical scan 
machines.  And our current slate of elected officials has  refused to approve a 
law that requires a paper trail for every ballot cast or  for a paper ballot 
recount.  You have to wonder why.
 
The good news is a lawsuit is in the works here in Florida, being drafted  by 
The Florida Fair Elections Coalition (see FloridaFairElections.org). I  
understand others are in the drafting stages in many other states. The  Florida 
lawsuit ( and others) is not expected to change things  before the 2006 
elections.  
 
So be prepared to have to deal with more of the same education reforms  after 
2006.  I just thought it would be a good idea to say this early on to  
diffuse the victory claims by enemies of public  education post-election. The fact 
is it is so easy to manipulated  electronic votes that the outcomes in 2006 
can't be trusted.
 
The other good news is that grassroots groups are springing up all over  this 
nation and this state, including Duval County where I live. They will be  
watching votes cast in every precinct and tallied in every supervisor of  
elections office. Precinct activity and polling is already brisk in this  area. This 
issue is also awakening coach potatoes into political  action.  
 
The other good news is that secure and fair elections is an issue embraced  
by honest folks on both sides of the political aisle. So eventually the  
problem will be resolved.
 
Billee Bussard
 
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/27675.html
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/14548443.htm
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.voting12may12,0,618610.story?c
oll=bal-local-headlines
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/7856
538.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/us/12vote.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2005/12/babababba_immac.html
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/gmsv/7244
189.htm