As California goes, so goes the nation. While a $4 billion company and the California secretary of state flaunt the law, an honest citizen is charged with a felony and may face jail time. His crime? Releasing documents describing Diebold's criminal acts.

We will release a full story on the courageous Steve Heller shortly. You could not ask for a more pure and honest whistleblower. This is a man who saw something that he knew was wrong, and made sure it got to authorities. Soon after his documents got to the California secretary of state and to the California attorney general, then-sec. state Kevin Shelley decertified Diebold and recommended criminal prosecution of Diebold.

THE ONLY PERSON PROSECUTED, HOWEVER...

The only one who was prosecuted is a quiet honest citizen who made sure the documents reached authorities. It is now two years later. The Los Angeles County District Attorney has waited until the attention was off the election to quietly prosecute Steve Heller.

While Steve Heller is charged with felonies for (a) looking at a computer screen [no kidding, that's the charge] and (b) making a copy, and (c) having said copy delivered to the authorities, the new Calif. secretary of state is engaging in a frightening pattern of ignoring the law.

This situation, as well as the situation that follows, has implications for all of America. If these behaviors -- and retaliatory consequences -- are allowed to stand, our nation will, sooner or later, be torn apart at the seams.

An open letter from Black Box Voting to Bruce McPherson

Dear Secretary McPherson,

On March 1st your office will hold hearings on new or revised voting systems.

We cannot comment on those specific systems because your staff did not do timely release of the staff reports as promised.

But it hardly matters in this instance. The process by which your agency certifies voting machines is dysfunctional and illegal under California law. Your willingness to tolerate this disregard for the law and basic democratic principles shocks and disheartens us.

We write today to provide documented examples of unfair and illegal processes.

At present your certification process operates according to your published "10 steps":

http://ss.ca.gov/elections/voting_systems/ten_steps_to_vsys_certification.pdf

It is devoid of details and is being ignored by your agency whenever convenient.

It is also illegal on its face.

California Election Code 19205 reads:

19205. The Secretary of State shall establish the specifications for and the regulations governing voting machines, voting devices, vote tabulating devices, and any software used for each, including the programs and procedures for vote tabulating and testing. The criteria for establishing the specifications and regulations shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(a) The machine or device and its software shall be suitable for the purpose for which it is intended.

(b) The system shall preserve the secrecy of the ballot.

(c) The system shall be safe from fraud or manipulation.

As your office is fully aware, you've established no such regulations. Your office was notified of this legal requirement almost a year ago by the activist community but you've ignored it. So far as we can tell there isn't even a published draft regulation, never mind a public commentary process.

This isn't a technicality. It is the difference between a democratic process and autocracy.

Worse, with no standards "cast in stone" your various underlings can make up the rules as they go along. For years now smaller companies with fewer political connections have been stymied by the constantly shifting and conflicting nature of your agency’s certification program. Without the required regulations, companies without political connections cannot ascertain the actual rules from the agency insiders who are making them up as they go along.

If we look at the recent certification of Diebold's latest products the problems are obvious:

1) Public commentary ran 100% against Diebold. It was ignored. The meeting was run in an autocratic fashion, limiting public input by banning "time waiving" by groups wanting to put their best speakers forward. Questions from the public to vendor and certification staff were banned with no explanation. Questions of this nature are common practice among water boards, the Public Utilities Commission and other democratic bodies. Contrary to past practices, your agency has so far not published the meeting transcripts or written public testimony from the Diebold hearing on your website. To what lengths will you and your staff (particularly Bruce McDannold) go to protect Diebold Election Systems Inc?!

2) By late December of 2005 your office after much weirdness finally put questions to the Federal ITA (Wyle) regarding the memory cards and interpreted code. This was at least an acknowledgement that the initial Federal certification process failed, given that interpreted code is flat banned under the 2002 FEC standards that are legally mandated in California.

3) Your report dated Feb. 14th makes it dead clear that the interpreted code issue is real. Therefore Diebold’s Federal certification is fraudulent. If the factual foundation of an argument is proven flawed, the argument must be scrapped if no remaining support exists.

http://ss.ca.gov/elections/voting_systems/security_analysis_of_the_diebold_accub asic_interpreter.pdf

The so-called "mitigations" in the Berkeley Report won't work.

It's worth noting that many of the "mitigation steps" are complex enough, costly enough or require enough extra manpower that the odds of the "mitigations" being fully implemented in all Diebold customer counties borders on zero.

4) Wyle has done nothing so far with your requested overview of memory card and interpreted code structures. No shock there; if they comment negatively about the interpreted code and glaring security holes regarding the memory cards, somebody might ask how they missed it the first time. If they gloss it over they’ll get fired as the issues are obvious enough that a quick review by the team you selected caught the problems right away.

5) Despite the "Federal certification required" language of California law, the failure of the federal labs to respond to you and your own "10 steps" requiring Federal certification, you certified Diebold last week.

Your agency under your administration doesn't treat the rule of law or democratic principles with any semblance of respect.

Your office is apparently ignoring the public records request for certification-related documents put to you by the Senate Elections committee.

You've done one thing right. Your Berkeley team has proven that the Federal certification process is broken. That is your salvation; it’s what will keep the US-DOJ at bay from enforcing the purchasing deadlines in HAVA without having enforced either the deadlines or effective process in Federal certification to provide good systems to purchase. Your office has confirmed that the Federal certification process is broken. Your office must take the position that this broken process cannot be used to force noncompliant products down the throats of the California citizenry.

Secretary McPherson, put it on hold.

Cancel the hearing.

Hold a hearing on the certification process instead, or at least start cooperating with the Senate Election Committee hearings.

Bring democracy into your agency. Entrenched forces among the California registrars led by Conny McCormack will pitch a fit. Your responsibility is to the letter of the law and to the people of this state.

Stand up for California or step down and let somebody else do so.



CITIZENS: MAKE FIVE CONTACTS TO GET SUBPOENAS

The message is simple:

Support subpoenas for the elections committee.

The target audience is just five senators: The California Senate Rules Committee.

Contact list: Email, Fax, Call -- Senate rules committee to issue subpoenas:

Senator Don Perata (Chair) - may want to call him as well as email. California citizens, use the form at his site to send messages also.

(916) 651-4009 mailto:Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov

(510) 286-1333

Senator Jim Battin (Vice-Chair)

(916) 651-4037

mailto:Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov

Senator Roy Ashburn

(916) 651-4018

mailto:senator.ashburn@sen.ca.gov

Senator Debra Bowen

(916) 651-4028 (Prefers email: mailto:Debra@debrabowen.comYes, call her too so she can log the support calls, it's important since it allows her to back her position from the grassroots.)

Senator Gilbert Cedillo

(916) 651-4022

Call and, California citizens - use the form at his site to send your message as well.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org