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AZ Senate Task
Force to examine election laws, equipment, etc.
Phoenix, Arizona, KFYI news radio story at 10 a.m. on Nov. 21, 2000, transcribed from audio tape by Dan Gutenkauf.
Joe Adams: "While the Justices in Florida continue to weigh their decisions, some members of the Legislature in Arizona are working on plans to make sure that problems in the sunshine state don't appear here. That from KFYI's Joe Anteri (spelling?)"
Joe Anteri: "The Task Force will be in charge of reviewing Arizona's election laws and procedures and arriving at solutions to any potential problems. Senator Chris Cumminsky tells KFYI news this will keep Arizona from facing any future election problems."
Senator Cumminsky: "What we are interested in is making sure that something like what has happened in Florida doesn't happen here in Arizona. And so those are the kind of things we are going to be looking at with (the)Task Force."
Joe Anteri: " In addition, the committee made up of several state officials will look into such issues as standardizing voting technologies throughout the state, and assisting local governments in updating old equipment. Joe Anteri, news radio 550 KFYI."
The 11 a.m. news edition repeated the earlier story with an additional comment from Senator Cumminsky.
Senator Chris Cumminsky; "Ten of the fifteen counties in Arizona still use punch cards, and so with two-thirds of them using outdated technology, this is something that we want to take a look at, and see if we can form a partnership with local governments to advance the cause of technology."
End of radio news story.
This is the opportunity that John Gilbert and I have been actively pursuing since the stonewalling we received from Elections Director Karen Osborne and her attorney Jill Kennedy at Maricopa County's computer logic and accuracy test on Oct. 23rd, 2000. At the 2nd test on October 31, I elicited a pledge from District 30 Representative Karen Johnson to call for investigative hearings by the Legislature in January, regarding the stonewalling of Maricopa County election officials, who refused to answer questions concerning the potential for computer vote fraud. We were instructed to put our questions in writing and were told by Deputy County Attorney Jill Kennedy that all our questions would be answered by the November 7 election date.
As of today, 11-21-00, WE STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED RESPONSES TO OUR SEVEN PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS. In addition, WE STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED A RESPONSE FROM MY LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR, SECRETARY OF STATE, OR THE COUNTY ELECTIONS DIRECTOR CONCERNING OUR NOTICE AND DEMAND TO IMPLEMENT A.R.S. 16-621 B., CALLING FOR A MANUAL COUNT OF BALLOTS FOR THIS ELECTION. Included with that letter were copies of Relevance magazine's Nov. 1996 issue, "Pandora's Black Box", and the Nov. 7, 1988 issue of the New Yorker article on computer voting.
To review my letter of notice and demand, go to the Citizens for a Fair Vote Count website at www.votefraud.org, click on Take Action, Become an Investigator, Legal Strategy by Dan Gutenkauf, letter to Governor Jane D. Hull.
I called Senator Cumminskys' office after hearing the radio news story, and his secretary informed me that the State Senate's Task Force will convene at 10 a.m. on Wed. Nov. 29th, 2000, on the 1st floor of the State Senate.
I called Rep. Karen Johnson's office and left a message with her secretary. As suggested by Maricopa County Reform Party Chairman John Gilbert, I will try to get the Arizona Senate and House to do a joint hearing next week, rather than a separate Senate hearing now and a House hearing in January. I will be distributing copies of Relevance and the New Yorker the the appropriate Task Force officials.
The radio news story cited above said that the Task Force committee will consist of state officials, so it would be logical to assume that either Secretary of State Betsey Bayless or State Elections Director Jessica Funkhouser will be in attendance. I will press Senator Cumminsky to compel Maricopa County Elections Director Karen Osborne to be present at this hearing.This will be an opportunity to ask my questions again, and election officials will not be able to avoid answering why Maricopa County uses a computer counting system ( Eagle Optech III- P scanner) that contains a two-way modem, which is vulnerable to outside manipulation. It will also compel the election offficals to give an account of why they arrogantly refuse to perform the mandatory, minsterial duties that the election statutes require, as passed by the legislature. It will be an opportunity to circumvent the corrupt judicial system that my brother Dennis and I encountered in our lawsuit Gutenkauf v. Maricopa County, and a chance to get a proper interpretation of the legislative intent of the relevant statutes.
I will request an opportunity to give testimony before the Task Force about the knowing, intentional violation of election law by election officials. I intend to provide evidence of deliberate misinterpretation of election statutes by the Deputy County Attorney, and the continuing policy of intimidation of electors by that agency official. I will point out that the Maricopa County elections training manual is in direct conflict with the election statutes under Title 16. The training manual says on page 32 that "Election results cannot be released at the polling place." However, Arizona Revised Statutes 16-601. Tally of the vote (at the polls) states that "The count shall be public, in the presence of bystanders, and shall be continued without adjournment until completed and the result determined and declared."
This Task Force hearing is a golden opportunity to educate our legislature about the problems with computer voting and to offer the solution to this "high- tech tyranny." We need to convince them that the only way to obtain honest, verifiable elections is to do a manual count of ballots which are designed like paper ballots, such as already in use here in Maricopa County, as opposed to the IBM punch cards used in Florida and elsewhere, that are not human-friendly to a manual count. If the hand counting is done at the precinct, before the ballots are transfered to the central counting center, the task is manageable, in small, incremental amounts of ballots. The results must be posted at the precinct before the ballot box leaves the poll. We must have a visually verifiable audit trail starting at the polling place, with the ballots deposited in clear plastic boxes.
As speculated by many keen observers such as Jim Condit Jr. and Vicki Collier, the current fiasco with the IBM punch cards in Florida appears to be working, as orchestrated, to move counties and the nation to call for a uniform, all computerized system. It is our duty as citizens, consistent with the mission of Citizens for a Fair Vote Count, to point out the pitfalls of an invisible, computerized secret tally, using secret source codes known only by the vendor.
Praise God for this opportunity in Arizona to reform this horribly corrupt system, and to restore integrity to our highest right as citizens. And thank God for public officials like Representative Billy Tauzin (Rep) of Louisiana, who has announced Congressional hearings in January to investigate the clandestine Voter New Service. I hope that I will be given a chance to appear as a witness in that proceeding as well. It would appear that the tireless efforts of Jim Condit Jr., especially in the aftermath of the CFVC convention in Cincinnati last August, are finally beginning to bear fruit. I encourage citizens in every state to circulate this message via email, and initiate a similar Task Force with their respective state legislature. I also encourage you to pray for Divine intervention in the current election deadlock in Florida." Work as if everything depends upon you, pray as if everything depends upon God."
God bless you,
Dan Gutenkauf
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