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Sam Garchik - Mon 02 Jun 2008 10:10 AM CDT
atomburke - Fri 23 May 2008 03:49 PM CDT
salman - Fri 23 May 2008 06:28 AM CDT
megelso - Sun 11 May 2008 09:10 AM CDT
no4gman - Tue 29 Apr 2008 01:07 AM CDT
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Wednesday, May 16

Establishing Our Progressive Iowa Network (PIN) - Mark the Date!
by
Caroline Vernon
on Wed 16 May 2007 11:25 AM CDT
Establishing our Progressive Iowa Network (PIN) – Mark the Date!
By Caroline Vernon
On Saturday, June 9th, progressive leaders, activists and legislators from across the state will converge on Iowa City for our first 2007 Democracy for Iowa Organizing Summit. We are still working out the details on the venue (forthcoming) but we will be meeting from 9am to 3pm (the last hour will be reserved for DFA-IA members to discuss administrative business so it will not be necessary for everyone to stay for that segment).
The purpose of this gathering is to establish the Progressive Iowa Network (PIN). This network will serve to better unite progressive organizations, legislators, and leaders across the state so we can support each other’s efforts around progressive issues in Iowa.
Currently,
we have an unprecedented opportunity to get progressive legislation
passed in our state. However, in order to achieve legislative victories
on the issues that we care about, we must establish an effective
framework that allows us to better organize our efforts, clarify our
message, mobilize our base, educate the public and influence our state
officials. We have identified the following 5 issues as requiring urgent action:
1. VOICE (Voter-Owned Iowa Clean Elections) 2. CAFO regulations / Farm Bill 3. Fair Share 4. Healthcare 5. Media
Please note: we want ALL progressive organizations to attend this meeting and become part of this network even if we may not be focusing on your specific issues at this time.
The Summit Agenda will cover the following:
I. Why is PIN important?
The first part of this summit will discuss why PIN is important. Groups/Individuals will be asked to introduce themselves and identify their main areas and issues of focus:
• Policy/Research • Lobbying • Media/Public Relations (including bloggers) • Grassroots Organizing
This will NOT be an informational meeting about the issues, but rather a strategy session on how we can support each other moving forward.
II. Update & Evaluation of the recent Iowa Legislative Session
• What went well? • What would we do differently?
III. Break-Out Sessions by Issue
• Strategize with other progressives around the state that are working on the same issue. • What kind of help do you need from other organizations/leaders who may not be directly involved in your issue.
Lunch
IV. Report back to larger group identifying specific needs
• What do you need from PIN?
We will not have time to hear specific plans but rather will want to hear your list of needs on how other organizations/leaders can help you make progress around your issue.
V. Where does PIN go from here?
We will discuss logistics, network structure and set a date and time for our next meeting(s).
VI. DFA-Iowa Administrative Planning Session (for DFA-IA members)
This last segment will be for DFA-IA members to discuss by-laws, how we can better support Blog for Iowa, and other administrative details.
Outreach around this summit has been underway for awhile -- many progressive organizations/individuals in Iowa have already been notified. However, if you have not yet heard from us directly, please email Caroline Vernon ASAP: carolina1961@gmail.com. We need every progressive organization, leader and legislator in Iowa to participate in order to achieve maximum effectiveness as a network.
Thursday, February 8

Abandon Touchscreens
by
Sam Garchik
on Thu 08 Feb 2007 09:00 PM CST
Abandon Touchscreens
By Trish and Ellen, Rapid Response Iowa The good folks at Iowans for Voting Integrity http://www.iowansforvotingintegrity.org/News.htm have been working hard behind the scenes to assure election integrity in Iowa.
They are working with state legislators to introduce a bill that will bring paper ballots and verified voting to all Iowa elections.
Your
help is now needed. County Auditors may well be resistant to more
changes in equipment; last year the Iowa's Auditors' association
opposed even the modest bill SF 351, which would only have required
that paper printers be added to the touchscreens.
Action: Please
consider calling or writing your County Auditor and ask her or him to
support legislation that would replace touchscreens in Iowa. Be sure to note that you support legislation that would have the state fund the transition to paper ballots.
Click here for contact information for all the County Auditors in Iowa:
http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/auditors/AuditorsList.html New Legislation being introduced this week: Legislation
being introduced this week by U.S. Representative Rush Holt will
establish strict new standards for the paper rolls, which no current
touchscreen system meets. This will strongly favor paper ballots, with
assistive marking devices for disabled voters. Contact your auditor: You
may ask, why not just add the printer on to the touchscreen to allow
the voter to see their vote on paper? Below is some information. From the IVI website: A survey by the group Iowans for Voting Integrity (IVI) found that one-fourth of Iowa voters used the touchscreens in the June 2006 primary. Says
IVI chair Carole Simmons, “With touchscreen machines, votes are
recorded as a chunk of computer code that the voter cannot view. This
leaves the door open for error or fraud."
Numerous
academic studies and independent security reports over the past year
warn that elections on these machines are at high risk of being
compromised, either unintentionally or by deliberate, malicious design. Touchscreen systems, even with an added paper printout the voter can see, are no match for voter-marked paper ballots. Why paper ballots are better than a "paper trail": In case of a recount, ballots are far superior than a printer roll. A ballot marked by the voter more definitively communicates the voter's intent than a secondary printout. Paper ballots are more amenable to recount or audit by hand.
Disabled
voters have successfully used paper-ballot markers like the Automark
(used in almost a third of Iowa's polling places) without trusting to glitch-prone touchscreens.
The paper that the printer rolls use is low-quality, flimsy paper; the roll is commonly called a "toilet-paper roll."
Legislation
being introduced this week by U.S. Representative Rush Holt will
establish strict new standards for the paper rolls, which no current
touchscreen system meets. This will strongly favor paper ballots, with
assistive marking devices for disabled voters.
Rep. Holt's bill will provide $300 million to states and counties to upgrade to the new standards.
Iowa should not find itself in the position of catching up to Florida. We should move to adopt the most proven, easily verified method of voting throughout the state: the paper ballot. If you have questions, send an e-mail to Iowans for Voting Integrity at
Friday, January 26

ICCI Voter Owned Lobby Day
by
Caroline Vernon
on Fri 26 Jan 2007 06:06 PM CST
ICCI Voter Owned Lobby Day in Des Moines
By Caroline Vernon
Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG)
has reserved a passenger van to transport Quad City activists to Des Moines next Monday, January
29th. We will be joining other progressive activists across Iowa in order to lobby our
state legislators on the importance of clean elections and public
financing of campaigns. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI)
is the main organizer of this event and has already laid a lot of
groundwork around this issue. This is a price-less (pun intended)
opportunity to make a difference in the fight to reclaim our democracy.
Monday's Agenda:We will leave from the NE corner of the Northpark Mall parking lot
(near Sears) at 8:00am. This van seats 12. We have 6 open seats available and will be stopping at the Perkins restaturant in Iowa City to pick up a couple more folks so if you live in the QC area or in Iowa City and would like to join us, please contact Caroline ASAP to reserve a
seat: 563-676-7580,
carolina1961@gmail.com. Others from the QC area will also be carpooling to Des Moines.
Please wear a green shirt (representing money) and if possible, bring a
dozen or more home-made cookies along. Currently, lobbyists are allowed
to spend a maximum of $2.99 on each legislator so we would like to
bring home-made cookies to share, to represent home-made elections. If
you are willing to contribute goodies for the cause please let me know.
If you are unable to attend, but would be willing to bake some cookies,
that would be terrific! Finally, to help defray some of the cost of
renting the bus, we are asking for a $10 donation from each
participant.
Once
we get to the Capitol, we will debrief at 11am to go over our talking
points and the day's activities. At noon, we will participate in a
rally and press conference. Former Congressman Berkley Bedell, Ed
Fallon, Pam Yoakum, and Mike Connelly will all speak to the importance
of voter-owned clean elections. From 12:30 to 3pm, we will all have an
opportunity to lobby each of our state reps on this issue. We will then
plan to leave Des Moines promptly by 3:15pm so we can return home in time for
dinner, around 6pm.
CCI is expecting an estimated turnout of
close to 150 activists from around the state. I am hopeful that we can fill the remaining seats in the van. We
expect to have a bill number to lobby around by next week.
Thanks for all you do - hope to see you in Des Moines! Caroline Vernon 563-676-7580
carolina1961@gmail.com
For more information on why this issue is so important, please read the following: Are Political Action Committees trying to use money to influence OUR legislature?
Iowans shouldn't have to wonder.
Tell your legislators to support Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections!
The
Clean Elections Act will help restore fairness to our elections by
allowing everyday Iowans the opportunity to run for office, regardless
of how much money they can access. Voters won't have to wonder if
large contributors are gaining unbalanced access to OUR
representatives.
The Clean Elections Act would provide a limited amount of public financing for candidates
who:
Pledge to not raise any private money for their campaigns. Pledge to not use any of their own money for their campaigns.
Collect a set number of signatures and $5 contributions from within their own district to prove they are viable.
It Can Work! Maine and Arizona have been effectively using the system for four election cycles and the results have been good for democracy.
More people are running for office. More people are turning out to vote. Candidates report spending more time talking to voters. 9
of 11 statewide officeholders in Arizona, including the Governor and
Attorney General, have been elected without taking money from PACs and
big money contributors, spending only a fraction of what is used in
conventional races like Iowa's.
We Need it Now! Voter-Owned Elections help ensure a healthy democracy by:
Freeing candidates from the money chase and allowing them to spend all their campaign time talking with voters.
Creating a fair playing field by reducing the need to raise large amounts of money to win.
Giving
more Iowans the chance to run for office – regardless of their access
to big money or their willingness to accept PAC contributions.
Creating
a system where Iowans won't have to wonder if big contributions are
influencing votes at the capitol with their campaign contributions.
The Clean Elections Act = Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections
Background:
A
Clean Elections Act would create voluntary public financing for state
elections. Candidates would qualify for public funding if they vowed
to raise no private money, vowed to not use any of their own money, and
collected a set number of signatures and $5 contributions from within
their district.
In a contested general election, eligible candidates who chose to use the system would receive:
$3 million for a team running for governor and lieutenant governor. $200,000 for a candidate for attorney general.
$125,000 for a candidate for a statewide office other than governor, lieutenant governor, or attorney general. $40,000 for a candidate for the Iowa senate. $30,000 for a candidate for the Iowa house or representatives.
Summary:
Voter
Owned Iowa Clean Elections is a system that would free candidates from
the money chase and allow them to spend more time with voters and
constituents. The same system has been used in Maine and Arizona for
four full election cycles and has proven to be an effective way of
reducing the influence of big money on elections. 6 of 8 statewide
office holders in Arizona were elected without using any special
interest money. Voter turnout has increased by over 20%. The number
of people running for office has increased. And in the Nov 2006
Election, Governor Janet Napolitano won re-election, combining with her
challenger to spend only $2 million, compared to the combined $18
million spent by candidates in the Iowa gubernatorial race.
A
Clean Elections Act will allow every day Iowans to run for office
without having to worry about raising large amounts of money. Phase I
of CCI's "Money and Elections in Iowa" study shows that the majority of
money given to candidates is coming from PACs. Challengers are at a
huge disadvantage, needing to raise $65,000 to be competitive in a race
for the house and $100,000 to be competitive for the senate. And as
campaign spending has gotten out of control, campaigns have gone south.
The Clean Elections Act would limit unnecessary spending by placing
contribution limits on donors. The Clean Elections Act would also
require Media outlets to file reports outlining who is paying for
political advertisements, curbing the explosion of negative
advertising.
For the cost of $5 per voter, Iowans could know for certain
that their elected officials are working to address the needs of all
Iowans, and not have to wonder about where all the money comes from.
For around $10 million a year, our state elected officials would have
the chance to focus on ideas and meeting their constituents, not
chasing down the combined $32 million spent in the Nov. 2006 elections.
Tell your legislator today: "Iowans want Voter Owned Clean Elections!"
Tuesday, January 16

Overton to Speak on Voting Rights at UI
by
Sam Garchik
on Tue 16 Jan 2007 09:52 AM CST
Overton to Speak on Voting Rights at UI
By Chellie Pingree, President of Common Cause
We want to tell you about a chance to meet a good friend of ours who
will be speaking in at the University of Iowa College of Law. Spencer
Overton is a voting rights activist, a law professor at George
Washington University, and a member of our board. He will be
discussing his new book, Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression, at the University
of Iowa College of Law on Friday, January 19, at 3 p.m. in the Levitt
Auditorium of the Boyd Law Building. Admission is free and open to the
public.
Stealing Democracy is
fun, timely, and important. It starts off by showing how the themes
from the movie "The Matrix" are played out in our flawed political
system, and builds on that insight by recounting hot controversies like
partisan redistricting in Texas, renewal of the Voting Rights Act,
felon disenfranchisement, photo ID requirements, English-only ballots,
and the 2000 and 2004 elections.
Please pass this email on to anyone you know who may want to attend, or might be interested in Spencer's book.
Thank you.
P.S.
While serving on a commission about presidential primaries, Spencer
urged Iowa to restore voting rights to citizens who had completed their
sentences. A couple of months later, Iowa's governor did so (a move
that restored rights to 98,000 voters, including 25 percent of the
state's African American voting-age population). You can see more
about Spencer's book at http://www.stealingdemocracy.com.
Tuesday, December 12

Bring Verified Voting to Iowa
by
Sam Garchik
on Tue 12 Dec 2006 08:11 AM CST
Bring Verified Voting to Iowa
By Sean Flaherty, IVI
It is
time for the Iowa General Assembly to return verified voting to our
state. We at Iowans for Voting Integrity urge you to sign our
petition calling for strong voting system reform in the next Assembly,
and to contact your legislators directly and tell them to act on this
vital issue.
Iowans for Voting Integrity's petition calls for the 82nd Iowa General Assembly to pass legislation mandating:
* The use of paper ballots in all elections covered by the Election Code.
* Routine hand audits of ballots in randomly selected precincts
* Public disclosure of voting system and vote tabulation software.
* The creation of a state panel of computer experts to conduct
meaningful testing and review of voting system and vote tabulation
software.
* Further measures to protect the integrity and transparency of elections in Iowa .
For our
recommended measures, we have drawn heavily on the Brennan Center for
Justice's 2006 report, "The Machinery of Democracy."
The
Brennan Center task force members included Professor Douglas Jones of
the University of Iowa, Professor Ronald Rivest of MIT, and Howard
Schmidt, former chief security officer of the Microsoft Corporation.
Click here to read and sign our petition for verified elections!
After
you sign the petition, e-mail your legislators to support strong voting
system reform. Click here to find contact information for your
state Representative and state Senator.
Our position paper on voting system reform can be viewed at our website, www.iowansforvotingintegrity.org, and a petition can be found at http://www.petitiononline.com/ivipetn/petition.html
There is
no reason Iowa should remain one of a minority of states that still
allows paperless voting, rather than one of the states embracing the
best practices to verify the vote. Let's work to change that in
the next year, and help Iowa adopt reforms that give us the highest
confidence in our elections.
Best regards,
Iowans for Voting Integrity
Working for Voting Systems Worthy of The Public Trust
www.iowansforvotingintegrity.org
Thursday, November 9

Update on Voting in Iowa's 2006 Election
by
Sam Garchik
on Thu 09 Nov 2006 07:55 AM CST
Update on Voting in Iowa's 2006 Election
By Iowans for Voting Integrity
Dear Iowa Voter,
Congratulations on making it through the season of campaign television
ads. We offer two important notes on yesterday's elections.
First, in Iowa's State Senate District 5 will have a recount,
apparently because the paper ballot scanners did not register the name
of candidate Rich Olive in some instances. The counties in District 5,
Story and Wright, are "blended" counties that use both paper ballot
scanners and touchscreens, both from Diebold Election Systems.
With optical scanning there are paper ballots to check for
problems registering votes. Not so with paperless DREs; once the voter
finishes their vote, you cannot know if the computer is recording it
accurately.
Our second note: elections in Virginia and Iowa have something in
common. In both states a large percentage of voters cast their votes on
touchscreen machines that offer no record of a vote independent of the
computer records.
It appears this evening that Virginia's U.S. Senate election may
be headed for a recount. For the majority of counties in Virginia, that
means printing out a digital record of the touchscreen machines' vote
results and hoping that computer recorded the votes correctly. Johns
Hopkins University computer expert Avi Rubin said it best: a meaningful
recount in Virginia is not possible.
Whether or not a recount occurs in Virginia, the election was so
close that most citizens can agree that it is reasonable to consider
one. Control of the United States Senate hinges on the votes recorded
on these machines in Virginia. The Pottawattamie County election last
June already gave Iowa powerful reminder of the need for verifiable
elections. Iowa, along with the entire nation, just got another
reminder from the 2006 Virginia Senate election.
Who wants to see a statewide Iowa election this close that can't
be truly recounted? When the Iowa General Assembly convenes in January,
it should act immediately to end the era of paperless voting. We will
be pushing for election integrity legislation in the coming months, and
we will keep you informed of this effort and how you can help.
Best regards,
Iowans for Voting Integrity
iowansforvotingintegrity.org
"Working For Voting Systems Worthy of the Public Trust"
Tuesday, October 31

Voting Raises Concerns Before Election Day
by
Sam Garchik
on Tue 31 Oct 2006 06:20 PM CST
Voting Raises Concerns Before Election Day
By Iowans for Voting Integrity
Dear Iowa Voter,
Reports from early voting in Texas and Florida remind us of why we are so concerned about unaccountable, paperless voting machines.
Please call 1-866-OURVOTE (http://ourvote.org) on election day to report voting machine problems or abusive challenges to voter eligibility. Iowans for Voting Integrity will be sending you more information about how you can help protect the integrity of the 2006 election. Now a couple of reports from early voting...
From Jefferson County, TX:
"Friday night, KFDM reported about people who had cast straight Democratic ticket ballots, but the touch-screen machines indicated they had voted a straight Republican ticket.
Stopher said, "There's something in these machines, in this equipment, that's showing Republican votes when you vote for Democrats, and I know Ms. Guidry's a nice lady, and she's working hard, but her theory that my fingernail was somehow over the Republican button is just unrealistic, my fingernail was not. The equipment is not working properly as far as I can tell." "
From Broward County, Florida:
"Several South Florida voters say the choices they touched on the electronic screens were not the ones that appeared on the review screen -- the final voting step.
Election officials say they aren't aware of any serious voting issues. But in Broward County, for example, they don't know how widespread the machine problems are because there's no process for poll workers to quickly report minor issues and no central database of machine problems."
Mauricio Raponi wanted to vote for Democrats across the board at the Lemon City Library in Miami on Thursday. But each time he hit the button next to the candidate, the Republican choice showed up. Raponi, 53, persevered until the machine worked. Then he alerted a poll worker."
Regards, Iowans for Voting Integrity "Working for voting systems worthy of the public trust"
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