Project Myth Breaker:  First Report

First!

Ah, those old habits from posting on the Dean blog for nine months die hard.  Nevertheless, I'm going to claim firsties for my sister, Nancy, who hit the windy, rural roads of NW Iowa today, on her one day off for the next three weeks, to deliver Myth Breakers to Sac, Ida, and Cherokee counties.  Now THAT'S my idear of a true believer in Democracy - drive 130-plus miles to help ensure fair elections even though it's not even remotely convenient.  Quelle contribution!

Nancy spoke with either the County Auditor or the Deputy Auditor in each county, and the information was well received.  One gal had heard of VotersUnite!  Another had not, and gazed upon the introduction with a pinched look on her face until Nancy mentioned that VotersUnite! is a non-partisan organization.  After that, the gal perked right up and was more receptive to the information.  Two of the three promised to read Myth Breakers and the other said she would look it over.

So, my thanks to Nancy and to all of you who will be out and about tomorrow hand-delivering your copies of Myth Breakers to your county election officials.  Thanks for making the room in your life to help us effect great change - one step at a time.

Check here to see which Iowa counties have already been assigned.  We still need help in many counties!

Convention Report:
Iowa's 4th District

The Iowa 4th Congressional District Democratic Convention was held in Ames, Iowa.  The 4th District is Iowa's most geographically dispersed, wrapping around the West and south side of Des Moines, northerly through central and northern Iowa, and then across the top tier of Iowa all the way to the far northeast corner of Iowa.  It includes 28 counties. The 4th District congressional seat is currently held by radical right Republican Tom Latham.  Ames, Mason City, Fort Dodge and Marshalltown are the largest cities in the district.  It also includes Decorah, Clear Lake, Algona, Charles City, Hampton, Story City, Perry, Boone, Iowa Falls, Winterset, Webster City, Indianola, Waukon, Estherville, Emmetsburg, Forest City, Osage, Cresco and many other smaller communities.  Additionally, the western suburbs of Des Moines are included.
 
Of the 623 delegate positions for the convention 561 were filled with delegates or alternates.  Viability required 84 delegates.  The Dean delegation was the only delegation to fully fill all of its positions and approximately a dozen Dean alternates were not seated and turned away, even though there remained vacant delegate seats.  All of the other candidate's alternates were seated.
 
In the first preferencing, Dean had 54 delegates.  The number rose to around 60.  The Dean delegation was not viable but controlled who would receive the sixth delegate (Edwards or Kerry).  Both the Edwards and Kerry delegations sent representatives stating they would place a Dean delegation selection in the position if the Dean Delegation joined them.  The Dean delegation voted to join with Edwards by a large margin.  Forty-One Dean delegates moved to the Edwards caucus, however, once there the offer to select a Dean representative was not made.  Unfortunately, this resulted as much from disorganization as it did from a well-placed decision.  At that point the entire Dean delegation left the Edwards caucus and remained in the fringes until the Kerry Delegation took a formal vote (which passed overwhelmingly) to allow the Dean delegation to select their own Delegate.
 
Jim Hutter from Ames was selected the Delegation Chair and State Sen. Daryl Beal assisted.  Darrell Lewis, Clear Lake, was selected as the Dean/Kerry National Delegate.  Lewis is perhaps best known around Iowa as the host of the "Bloggers' Breakfast" in Des Moines on Jan. 17 that was attended by more then 150 people from 20 states and overseas.  Lewis was also the subject of a 2-hour documentary done by NHK Japan Broadcasting about the Iowa Caucuses and viewed by 100 million Asian television viewers.  Lewis, who is openly gay and disabled as a result of HIV, serves as the Platform Committee Chair of Cerro Gordo County and is also one of the founding members of DFIA.  Lewis may be contacted at DLewis001@aol.com.
 
Tables were set up at the convention and Kim Smith of Marshalltown, also a DFIA founding member, distributed information about DFIA and signed up new members.  Jenna McCarley of Ames assisted distributing information about Project Myth Breaker and Citizen Whip.
 
One footnote:  the Edwards National Delegate is the daughter of a Dean 4th District Delegate and she is also a big fan of Howard Dean's.

Our thanks to Darrell Lewis, Clear Lake, for providing the information for this report.

Verified Voting:
Iowa's Ed Fallon Amendment

Dear Iowa Voting Activists:

Good News--

Thanks in part to our work, Iowa has taken a key step toward protecting us from unauditable voting.  State Representative Ed Fallon of Des Moines got his amendment attached to the HAVA legislation that was signed into law earlier this month.  The new law requires that electronic voting machines "store each ballot cast separate from the ballot tabulation function, which ballot may be reproduced on paper in the case of a recount, manual audit, or machine malfunction."

To be sure, we are not guaranteed the voter-inspected paper trail we want.  But University of Iowa voting machine expert Doug Jones says it is "an improvement."  He says much will now depend on the administrative rules that are written to flesh out the legislation.  I will look for a way for us to influence those rules and get back to you.

What to do--

1.  Thank Ed Fallon, if you have not already done so.  Ed Fallon can be emailed at Ed.Fallon@legis.state.ia.us

2.  Thank Rep Elizabeth Jacobs, Des Moines Republican, who was floor manager of the HAVA bill and blocked all amendments except Fallon's amendment.  E-mail her at libby.Jacobs@legis.state.ia.us   Tell her we still want a VOTER-VERIFIED paper trail next session.