ntobi's blog

What happens when We the People take back our elections

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:20:47 -0500

What happens when youth movement organizers, propelled by a new world vision of peaceful coexistence fueled by a green economy that produces not only a healthy environment but millions of fair, living wage jobs, work tirelessly for years to get their agenda on the table and get out the voters to support it?

What happens when thousands of new voters come out full force to vote in a presidential election?

What happens when the citizens of America fan out to the nation's polling sites to document not just the voting process, but the counting process?

What happens when American citizens, armed with public records requests and their legal rights to oversee their own elections, show up at their polling places to videotape the closing of the polls, the counting of the votes, and the central tabulation of those precinct-level results?

Why I'm voting for Sarah

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:08:41 -0400

What's a little more global mass murder (aka war, torture, etc.... you know the drill), a little less democracy (federalized control of elections, enriching the privatized e-voting industry, handing over the vote count to the silent and anonymous partners behind the unscrupulous e-voting industry, stolen elections, voter suppression, etc.... you know the drill), what's a little more raping and pillaging of the American nation (governmental takeover of finance infrastructure, corporate control of the entire federal government, federalization of home ownership itself, you know the drill....), when we can amuse ourselves for the next "16" years with the best SNL we've had in years?

McClellan's confession, NH's faux elections, and the stain on our collective hands

Thu, 29 May 2008 15:52:26 -0400

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again." - Thomas Paine

"You are not required to complete the task, yet you are not free to withdraw from it." - Rabbi Tarfon

By now, we're all familiar with the memoir by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, which apparently roundly condemns White House war policies and actions.

If you haven't yet read about it, here is one article you can explore on NPR.

How many people have been killed, maimed, or damaged since the un-elected, Supreme Court-installed Bush Administration invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq?

Hundreds of thousands of destroyed lives later, Scott McClellan now confesses that he was the willing instrument of propaganda used by the occupiers of the White House to "sell" the war to Congress. Congress, who not only lapped it up with unquestioning stupidity and provided continuous unmitigated war funding, but to this day obstinately refuses to hold itself or the administration accountable for this treasonous crime.

We need to eliminate secret vote counting, not a recount

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:20:29 -0500

New Hampshire's primary delivered a "surprise" upset victory to Senator Hillary Clinton, contradicting all pre-election poll predictions and even the facts on the ground, which showed Senator Obama with a strong lead and enthusiastic overflow crowds at every New Hampshire appearance.

Political pundits in the corporate media and citizen journalists in the Blogosphere alike are all asking the same question: What happened in New Hampshire?

It's pretty easy to see what happened in New Hampshire: We had an election in which 81% of our ballots were counted in secret by a private corporation, and this resulted in an outcome that is called into question.

That's what happened.

No recount is going to change this. What will change this is to get rid of corporate controlled secret vote counting in our elections.

New Hampshire holds exemplary elections in 45% of our polling places; elections where our paper ballots are counted by hand by our neighbors in full public view with 100% citizen oversight and checks and balances. These hand count elections, of which New Hampshire is the “hands down” expert, provide the only method known today that can guarantee open and honest elections. These are elections where every ballot, every vote, every mark made by the voter, is observed and tallied in full public view with multiple sets of eyes watching and checking and balancing each count.

Hand Counted Paper Ballots are HAVA-compliant

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:26:06 -0500

SOURCE: OpEdNews

December 17, 2007

By Nancy Tobi

Election Defense Alliance has filed an amicus brief in support of the State of New York and against federal takeover of its elections. The Department of Justice would like to force the state to buy computerized voting equipment in order to meet compliance standards for the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

But EDA's position is clear: Hand Counting Paper Ballots is HAVA compliant.

Not only that, properly run HCPB meets the standards for democratic elections.

There is no need for New York or any state to sell out our democracy - no, to GIVE IT AWAY - to the corporate e-voting industrialists and their collaborators who are stealing our democratic birthright with their secret vote counting computerized technologies.

The feds may have passed HAVA, but we the people don't have to buy its bill of goods. The safest, most secure and reliable method of HAVA-compliant vote counting is to hand count our paper ballots.

MoveOn and HR811 (the Holt Bill)

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:22:19 -0400

By Nancy Tobi

Many people have emailed me asking what does the NH Fair Elections Committee think of the so-called "compromise" version of the Holt bill being brought to the US House floor this coming Wednesday.

They want to know, how should they vote in MoveOn's latest poll, asking their feelings about the bill. We see this as a good sign, that after months and months of pro-811 propaganda and ignoring the voting integrity movement's concerns, MoveOn seems to be open to a new look at their steadfast and inexplicable support of HR811.

So here's the straight poop. When they say the latest version is a "compromise" bill, what this means is that Congress has compromised the will of the people, the good of the nation, in favor of industry lobbyists. In December 2006 wethepatriots.org submitted to every cosponsor of HR811, including NH Congressman Hodes, a letter in opposition to HR811 with suggested amendments. This letter was signed by 800 American citizens and organizations.

How many industry lobbyists does it take to outweigh 800 ordinary Americans? Apparently as many as can fit into a room with the House Administration Committee.

Is this the America you believe in?

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:15:00 -0500

In September 2006 New Hampshire was brought to shame when all four of our Washington delegates voted in favor of the Military Commissions Act.

Next Tuesday two of these men are asking New Hampshire voters to send them back to Washington. Well, I watched the debates with their challengers. I watched as the newsmen (and I believe they were all men) asked their typical questions: what will you do about taxes, healthcare, the war....

Not one asked about torture. Nobody mentioned the congressional votes that handed the Executive--the occupier of the Oval Office--unilateral power in deciding who among us can be considered an enemy, who among us can be indefinitely detained and tortured, while never having any rights to question that detention or to have legal representation. The Military Commissions Act never came up. The silence deafened me.

Is this the America you believe in?

View this video. Maybe our "representatives" need to hear from you.

Sometimes you just gotta laugh

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:40:11 -0400

I confess to feeling enveloped by a gauzy layer of sadness since last week, when Congress brought a shame upon the land so deep and so wide that even Monday's Day of Atonement could not wash us clean of it.

It was last week that Congress voted to legalize torture--yes, torture!--and detention without due process or legal representation. It was last week that, with their votes, New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg and New Hampshire Congressmen Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley officially crossed over to a dark side from which many, many, many days of atonement will not rescue them.

How will America recover from their betrayal? How many will die for their sins?

So the sadness remains. But, you know, in order to go on, sometimes you've just gotta laugh. It feels so good, especially in dark times like these.

So, with thanks to Comedy Central, I bring you Jon Stewart, trying his darndest to lighten our load.

And Colbert takes the presidency to the next level: Lucifer.

Senator Judd Gregg approves legalization of torture and detention without due process

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 23:35:26 -0400

I spent the weekend in Cleveland at the We Count Conference, with what used to be known as election integrity activists, but are now solidly redefined as civil and human rights activists. Under the shadow of the recent sharp turn to fascism with the passage of a bill legalizing torture and detention without due process, these election integrity activists took their work seriously.

This unforgivable sin undertaken last week by those in the halls of power, duly or unduly elected as the case may be, overshadowed every speech, every workshop, every conversation, every utterance, every breath, every hope, every wish, and every whisper spoken at the conference.

So I return to the Granite State and post here a compendium of news relating to this devastating blow to the American Republic.

Senator Spector (R-PA) inserted an amendment to "strike the provision regarding habeas review." This amendment would have left intact our civil and human rights under the legal doctrine of habeas corpus. The amendment's defeat means detainees will be completely prohibited from challenging the validity of their detention before any tribunal of any kind.

Senator Judd Gregg, proponent of the Patriot Act, the Real ID, and other fascist tyrannies, once again dipped his hands in blood and voted to kill the amendment. Senator Sununu voted in favor of the amendment and human rights. Thank you, Senator Sununu.

Does anyone know how Bass and Bradley voted? Please post here, if you can find that elusive information.

compendium of news articles on this atrocity below the fold

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Voter intent: Granite State bedrock for election integrity

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:25:39 -0400

I was honored this week to be a counter at the State recounts following our primary. New Hampshire has long had laws requiring real paper ballots (I think NH was the first state to enact such laws), we have long had a tradition of manual recounts, and this tradition was recently enacted into law as well.

Today's recount was for an optical scan district, meaning that we were comparing the machine count results against the hand recount results. Hand counts generally produce different results from machines. That's because when you use machines to count votes, not every vote is counted. Pure and simple.

Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch, who is an expert in the New Hampshire election system, has been known to remark that the Diebold optical scanners used in New Hampshire will count ballots perfectly when the ballots are perfectly marked. Meaning, that the voters need to fill in the little ovals exactly enough to be read by the scanner, or their votes are not counted.

This is where the notion of voter intent comes in. When a citizen comes to the polls to make this personal, political expression called voting, he or she is asked to indicate this expression on a ballot. People, being people, will not always mark their ballots with perfectly filled ovals. Sometimes, they'll circle the name of their candidate. Or they might cross off every other candidate's name to show just how much they really like their candidate. Or, they might simply be sloppy and unintentionally color outside instead of inside the lines.

more below the fold
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Election reform and its consequences

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 21:51:36 -0400

Editor's note: In early June 2006 I was asked, together with Jonathan Simon and Sally Castleman of the Election Defense Alliance, to speak before the Cambridge, MA Alliance for Democracy. Below is the transcript from that talk, which addressed election reform locally and on the national level.

Jonathan Simon: Nancy Tobi is vice-chair of Democracy for New Hampshire where they've been doing a great deal of work in many areas--a lot of it on the local and state level and much of it on election integrity issues. She has embraced one particular area with ferocity and detail -- the legislation now pending in Congress, the Holt Bill (HR 550). Nancy has a strong and well-thought-out position on HR 550. In a relatively short time she will explain why the Holt bill is a disaster.

Transcript of Presentations and Q & A:

more below the fold
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Election integrity belongs on the agenda

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:54:50 -0400

Early this week, I was at the Take Back America conference in Washington DC. Conference organizers refused to put election integrity on the agenda, so I was sent to put the issue on the agenda by talking to participants and letting them know about the Election Defense Alliance.

more below the fold

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Ask the Governor to VETO SB403

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 10:17:20 -0400

I am writing to ask your support in urging the Governor to VETO SB403. This bill as amended by a single party Committee of Conference, will, if passed into law require election workers to separate the affidavits of all voters registering on election day who do not have a photo ID. These affidavits will be segregated and the names of the voters will be marked on the voter registration database for follow up and possible investigation.

There are many good reasons for the Governor to veto the bill, not the least of which being that election workers in 2006 will be overwhelmed already with implementing two entirely new voting systems mandated by the federal government: a centralized voter registration database and a voting solution for persons with disabilities. This is not the year to create additional requirements, especially requirements that can have the effect of voter suppression if not properly carried out.

Goffstown police establish checkpoints and forced evacuations

Mon, 22 May 2006 10:34:43 -0400

WMUR TV reported last night that Goffstown police have established checkpoints and are forcing residents to leave their own properties by 8 PM.

Claiming safety concerns, Goffstown officials apparently believe that New Hampshire residents can not independently take care of themselves and their families on their own property!

Live free or die?

Sounds like martial law to me.

Election reform: grow it from the grassroots

Fri, 12 May 2006 22:12:02 -0400

Following are my remarks from today's conference on Cleaning up our Statehouses:

Democracy for New Hampshire is a true grassroots organization. We are 100% volunteer-powered sustained by small donor funding.

As a people-powered organization, we are intensely and directly connected to community needs and values.

In New Hampshire, we know a lot about the importance of community and community-based political engagement. We have the largest citizen legislature in the nation, our elected representatives are eminently accessible, in many of our towns we debate community and political decisions in open town meetings, and in 45% of our polling places we count our ballots by hand with community members and volunteers pitching in to keep the count honest.

Looking at electoral reform, we face three challenges directly related to this question of community-based politics:

1) How do we prevent a lot of hard work at the state and local levels from being swept away by federal mandates?