Action 1

Send in Election Night CNN and CBS Exit Poll Screen Captures to EDA Data Analysis Project

Think the 2006 Midterm Elections were clean? Think again!
Early analysis shows that the mainstream media exit polls have been shifted about 3% to the right.

EDA was able to capture unadulterated exit poll figures for only a few of the states at a few time intervals.

Collecting as many of the original exit poll displays BEFORE they were "adjusted" is our highest election forensics priority.
(But keep on sending county and precinct election data, too!)

IMPORTANT! Do NOT just collect what is on news sites now.
Make sure you are sending in original, nonrevised exit polls you captured on election night.
REPEAT, the exit polls that are displaying now on news sites such as CNN and CBS have been falsified.

Send your exit poll captures from CNN* and CBS (two different exit polls)
to EDA Data Analysis

(The CNN display is the main network news consortium exit poll. CBS commissioned a second, different exit poll).

Action 2

Observe and Collect the Manual Tallies in Your Counties-- Call Today!

(This action alert from Verified Voting, about the Transparency Project, a comprehensive plan to document all phases of the Midterm election.)

Today's focus: Capture the Voter Verified Paper Records and/or Manual Tally random sampling of the vote totals.

Read on, then phone your local election office to find out when and where these counts will be conducted, and go observe,record,and send in the results to the Transparency Project.

* (Please forward to the EDA Election Data Analysis Project also).
__________________________

Friends,

We're now on the other side of Election Day -- can you believe it? But the election is not over yet -- the vote-counting continues, and so must our efforts to protect democracy! We need you, RIGHT NOW, to find out if and when manual audits are occurring in your area, and if they are, to go and observe the auditing process.

As many of you know firsthand, people in various parts of the country worked very hard over the last few years to achieve an important safety net for our democracy: voter-verified paper records (VVPR's) and routine manual audits. VVPR's provide for recovery of voter intent - and, thus, for accurate elections - in the case of machine failure. Manual auditing of the VVPR's serves as a diagnostic tool that can be used to pinpoint and uncover hidden problems, ensuring that our elections, no matter how smooth they may seem on the outside, accurately reflect the will of the people.

Please check to see whether audits might be happening in your area. If so, we urge you to IMMEDIATELY take the following steps:

1. Call the elections department in your county, township, or voting jurisdiction TODAY to find out when and where the audit will be conducted. Please be aware that the audits will begin VERY soon in most places, which means that you MUST call NOW.

2. Make sure you know the requirements to observe in your area, if any.

3. Participate in observing a portion or all of the audit process. Don't worry if you can't observe the whole process - any observation that you're able to conduct will be useful.

4. Complete Verified Voting's Audit Observation Questionnaire. There are two separate questionnaires -- one for manual audits of votes cast on a specific percentage of machines or percent/number of votes, the other for manual audits of a specific percentage of precincts -- depending on the state in which you live. Please keep reading for information on your area!

5. Submit your completed questionnaire to Verified Voting, so that we can compare auditing practices in different areas. The information that you submit will be made publicly available, minus any personally identifiable information.

You can submit your completed questionnaire online at http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6409,

or you can fax it to us at 940-403-2255,

or mail the hard copy to Verified Voting, 1550 Bryant St., Suite 855, San Francisco, CA 94103.

Out of the twenty-eight states that now have a VVPR requirement statewide, thirteen have an audit requirement (see http://verifiedvoting.org/audits). KY and PA also have an audit requirement, even though there's no VVPR law -- and some additional states do them voluntarily.

If you live in CO, CT, NM, NY, WA, or PA:

Fill out the machine questionnaire, which can be downloaded here: http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/downloads/AuditQ-Machine.pdf

If you live in AK, AZ, CA, HI, IL, KY, MN, NC, or WV:

Fill out the precinct questionnaire, which can be downloaded here: http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/downloads/AuditQ-Precinct.pdf

A few additional notes on various states:

AZ - If you live here, due to the way the law is written, you may need to push to make sure the audit actually happens. AZ may need actual participants to carry out the audit, not just observers.

CO - Be a part of history! The audits here will be the first ever under the new statewide requirement.

MN - If you plan to observe in this state, please contact us at [email protected], so that we can put you in touch with the group that is coordinating an observation effort there.

NM - This state's audit law doesn't take effect until 2007, but it would be a good idea for the Secretary of State to conduct one anyway. Consider orchestrating a letter-writing campaign to the Secretary of State to make it happen. People there have already been writing to the editors of local newspapers.

NV - There is no audit requirement here, but audits have been conducted for the past few years. Call your elections department for more information.

PA - Audits here are of a specific percent/number of votes (as opposed to a specific percentage of randomly selected machines or precincts).

VT - This state doesn't have an audit requirement, but might conduct one. Call your elections department to find out if it's happening.

Your observation of audits can help to:

- Pinpoint specific machine-related or vote-counting problems.
- Ensure that audits are being conducted in the way that they are supposed to be by law in your area, and if not, ensure documentation of errors that occur in the process.
- Determine the best methods for conducting audits in the future (e.g., is it better to randomly select machines? precincts? etc.).

Effective manual audits entail hand-counting a significant number of the paper ballots and comparing those totals to the machine counts in order to make sure the system is counting properly. Manual audits can help us tell whether the machinery of our democracy is working properly. Your participation will make a difference! Make that call now to find out where and when to GOTO - Get Out To Observe!

All the best,

Courtenay

Courtenay Strickland Bhatia
President, Verified Voting
415-487-2255 work
415-235-0126 cell
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/

Every vote must count as cast.