RESOLUTION on Rights
for Open and Honest Elections
and
Against Corporate Secret Vote Counting

submitted by Protect California Ballots and Election Defense Alliance.

This resolution has two subjects not present in last year’s “omnibus Electoral Reform” resolution: transparency and vote counting.

WHEREAS, the fundamental purpose of the United States is to practice democratic self-government, and to ensure our government loyally serves We the People who created it and nothing else, and to recognize that all legitimate government power comes only from the people via elections, and

WHEREAS, the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence declares our unalienable rights, including the right to alter or abolish our government at will, and

WHEREAS, this paragraph also declares the reason government is created: to "secure these rights," to We the People, and affirms that rights are ours by birth, proving that our government guarantees us our rights, but doesn't grant us our core rights, and
NOTING, that to be a free people requires us to have the ability to change elected representatives at will, and

NOTING WITH EMPHASIS that our rights are most in danger when we wish to remove incumbent government officials because they also run or influence the very elections that are the only way to remove them from power, and

WHEREAS, we have seen a long, dishonorable and often open and notorious history of vote suppression, including "legal" disfranchisement by laws denying the right to vote, and involvement by government officials, and

NOTING, that we've every reason to believe misconduct will be worse wherever secrecy is present instead of openness because secrecy prevents accountability, and

WHEREAS, since the 2000 election, there's been an explosion in secret vote counts via new computerized voting machines, whereby ballots are purportedly "counted" using invisible electrons, but only results are reported and no evidence or witnesses to the count exist or are brought to light because of claims of "trade secrecy" in vote counts, and non-experts couldn't understand the evidence even if it were present and produced, and

WHEREAS, our government is not based on "trust" or maintaining "public confidence" in elections, it is instead based on checks and balances, oversight and supervision, which are forms of distrust, and

WHEREAS, scientific studies have shown that all computerized voting systems, both touch screen and optical scan systems, allow the unprecedented ability of a single person to alter election results if given access to a single computer for a few minutes, and moreover that it isn't possible to secure these machines against the insiders who claim to provide us with security, even though the power and paychecks of election official insiders completely depend on those same elections and insiders are always a high security risk, such as with embezzlement in businesses, and
NOTING, that secret vote counting leaves the people completely insecure in their right to remove incumbents, and leaves election officials completely free to alter elections without detection, and

WHEREAS, because no voting system can possibly be completely perfect when insider risks are high, we recognize that the preferable voting system is one that creates evidence when compromised, and that computerized systems do not do this, and

WHEREAS, an August 2006 Zogby poll showed support for "observable vote counting" of 92%, and recognizing that secrecy in any part of our elections (including campaign finance) is simply an open invitation for corruption,

IT IS THEREFORE RESOLVED, that we support voting systems where every part of the system is observable by the public and creates evidence accessible to and understandable by the public, and recognize this is necessary to preserve unalienable rights of self-government, such as the right to alter the government at will, and

RESOLVED, we condemn those so-called "public servants" who cooperate with corporations to deny information on vote counts to the public, violating their loyalty to the public, and preserving corporate rights instead of rights of people, and

RESOLVED, we require all voting systems to be compatible with the rights of self-government, or else they are unacceptable regardless of cost savings or convenience, and

FURTHER RESOLVED, by way of example, the we recognizes the following system complies with the principles above:

(1) Voter-marked, (in private booths) precinct-cast and precinct-counted physical ballots, such as paper ballots, and (2) completely open, honest, and public vote counts, with immediate access to all information about counts, and (3) the use of both partisan and independent counters checking and balancing each other (with public supervision freely allowed), which is recognized as more accurate than machine methods, and (4) absolutely secure chains of custody from the time ballots are cast through the time for recounts, and (5) guarantees of speedy, effective investigations and remedies for any reported irregularities, just as our armed forces treat all potential threats seriously.

FINALLY, NOTING WITH EMPHASIS, these rights are mandatory and non-negotiable, and that it's the government's primary purpose to guarantee these birthrights, but election secrecy renders government accountability to the people impossible,

IT IS SOLEMNLY RESOLVED, the we demands full recognition of all voting rights of all people, and voting systems that reflect the best checks and balances ever developed for elections: fully observable, transparent elections.

This version of the resolution was presented to the Latino Congresso on Oct 5th by Judy Alter.
Paul Lehto is the primary author.