Coordinating Council

Judy Alter, Ph.D.

Judy Alter (Judith B. Alter Ed.D.), emeritus UCLA Professor, began working on election justice issues four days after the CA Oct. 2003 Recall election when Lynn Landes offered compelling evidence about how Diebold machines swung the election away from Bustamante to the current "governor."

Before the Nov. 2004 election she urged elected officials to consider counting voters' filled in sample ballots to check the accuracy of the secret software being used in the election. Jeremiah Akin trained her in the thwarted Recount New Mexico effort. She subsequently analyzed the voting results in Santa Fe NM (posted on Solarbus and freepress) and since January 2005, has given numerous talks about her findings there as a case study of voting irregularities in the 2004 presidential election.

She started Study California Ballots [6] and signed up over 260 volunteers in 16 CA counties to work toward unsealing the 2004 ballots.

In July 2005 some of her volunteers invited her to help audit the San Diego mayoral election where she led 23 volunteers from 7 counties in parallel elections at 5 polling sites (11 precincts). She directed a partial inconclusive recount there in Aug. 2005.

She conducted 8 parallel elections in Los Angeles County for the special election in Nov. 2005 and helped set up others in four other CA counties (total 19).

Since then she continues to work in Los Angeles County lobbying against ES&S precinct scanners for LA for Nov. 2006; helping technical observers monitor election equipment in election headquarters; educating the public in more than 45 talks; analyzing the results of 1% manual recount and snap tallies; and circulating citizen petitions for hand marked, hand counted ballots at the precinct level.

John Brakey

On Election Day 2004, John Brakey was Democratic Cluster Captain for four precincts in Arizona Congressional District 7, which had 80% non-Republican, predominately Hispanic voter registration, yet would be recorded as having voted 42% for Bush.

Throughout Election Day, John witnessed suspicious behavior by poll workers at three of his four precincts. An hour after the polls had closed, he caught poll workers at one of these stations in the act of altering the poll books.

Shocked, John immediately launched what would grow into a 1,000+ hour audit of the voting at precinct #324, beginning by salvaging the poll-worker-annotated “Advice to Voter” slips from the trash the next morning and then buying copies of all other pertinent public records.

John entered all of these data on Excel spreadsheets and began e-mailing them to Dave Griscom with highlighted oddities and irregularities.

Eventually, the team of Brakey and Griscom uncovered evidence of an elaborate "hack and stack" poll-worker fraud designed to alter the optical scan ballot count and evade detection in a recount. Griscom was able to calculate the probability of the seven irregularities they found being committed exactly 11 times each. The odds that these seven irregularities were random accidents due to poll-worker incompetence, were less than one chance in 20 million.

Conclusion: The poll workers did these things on purpose, and they religiously followed a formula whereby they could have swung the vote by as much as 12.8%--without being detected in a manual recount of the ballots.

John Brakey is a co-founder of AUDIT-AZ (Americans United for Democracy, Integrity, and Transparency in Elections, Arizona) and the Special Task Force Leader of the Arizona Democratic Party Election Integrity Committee, in which he works with EDA Investigations Co-Coordinator David Griscom.

Contact [7]

Marj Creech, Secretary

Marj grew up in the racist, classist South in the 50s and 60s and was witness to the division of society during the Civil Rights era. A creative, stubborn, iconoclastic streak led Marj to try adventurous things.

After earning a degree in philosophy, she joined the Women’s Army Corps which assigned her to Walter Reed Hospital. There she saw many injured soldiers and became friends with the oppressed from all backgrounds who joined the Army to escape poverty.

After the war she became active in the feminist and gay rights movements while entering the Christian ministry.

After fighting for justice over the years, the 2004 election awoke Marj to the utter dysfunction of our democracy, despite the pall of normalcy cast by society and the media. She realized that the only way to bring justice is to create a movement, as powerful as the Civil Rights movement, to repair and restore our electoral system – otherwise virtually no other progress can be made.

Her tasks in the movement are to help active people to respond to this crisis. Since the US has so much influence in the world, Marj understands that the struggle for election integrity is crucial to the struggle for the dignity and worth of all peoples of the world.

Marj is an organizer, encourager, bringer of humor and lifter of spirits in local Ohio groups (J30 and CASE Ohio, and also a Licking County activist group –LICOPAC).

She has participated in and helped organize parallel elections, records investigations, conferences and educational forums, parade floats, rallies, parties, coffee house events, and has generated numerous educational flyers to hand out at other people’s events, performs as The Honest Elections Cow, and co-hosts a website called OH-WAVE.

David L. Griscom, Ph.D

David L. Griscom is a co-founder of AUDIT-AZ (Americans United for Democracy, Integrity, and Transparency in Elections, Arizona) and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, retired from a 33-year career with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.

In 2004, while he was Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Griscom happened to meet John R. Brakey. On Election Day 2004, Brakey was Democratic Cluster Captain for four precincts in Arizona Congressional District 7, which had 80% non-Republican, predominately Hispanic registration, yet would be recorded as having voted 42% for Bush.

Having witnessed suspicious behaviors by poll workers at three of his four precincts, John Brakey launched a 1,000+ hour audit of the voting at precinct #324, and called on David Griscom for assistance in analyzing the voting records.

Eventually, the investigative duo uncovered a pattern of poll-worker fraud, and Griscom was able to use simple gambler’s odds to prove that the probability of seven different irregularities being committed exactly 11 times each, was less than one chance in 20 million if they were seven random accidents due to poll-worker incompetence.

Conclusions: The poll workers did these things on purpose, and they religiously followed a formula whereby they could have swung the vote by as much as 12.8% -- without being detected in a manual recount of the ballots.

In 2005, Dave was invited to speak on John’s and his research at the National Election Reform Conference (Nashville), the Election Assessment Hearing (Houston), and the AZ Democratic Committee Meeting (Flagstaff).

Dave also presented a research paper on these findings at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, February 17, 2007, in San Francisco.

Contact [10]

Harold Lecar

Harold Lecar is professor of biophysics and neurobiology at the University of California Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Columbia in 1963, working on masers with C. H. Townes.

From 1963 to 1985, he was a research physicist at the Biophysics Lab of the National Institute of Neurological
Disease and Stroke, doing both theoretical and experimental research on the mechanisms of nerve excitation. Much of his research involved the application of statistical physics to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying nerve excitation.

In 1985, he received the US Public Health Service Special Recognition Award for "contributions to the understanding of the role of membrane ionic channels in producing electrical excitability and for pioneering work in advancing
single-channel."

Since 1985, he has been professor of biophysics and
neurobiology at UC Berkeley.

Harold started working on election problems in 2000, when he watched the Florida election results going monotonically up for Bush (and then monotonically down) in the final two hours of the vote count -- hardly what is expected for a random process with approximately 50-50 a-priori probability.

As did many election integrity workers, he watched aghast as the 2004 election was being stolen in real time, with contested state after contested state mysteriously reversing late in the day.  Two weeks after the election, he was one of the initial members of Berkeley's Voting Rights Task Force and took on analysis as his prime responsibility.

Harold has delved into the numbers behind some of the strangest election results in recent American history, including the presidential elections in New Hampshire and Florida 2004, the California gubernatorial recall, and a series of studies of third-party voting behavior in the 2004 California presidential election that defy political and numerical common sense.

In a number of studies, he has tried to ferret out the consequences of different computer vote-transfer schemes. He used these methods to study California Proposition 66 (2004) concerning the "three strikes" law. This proposition was favored by both Democrats and Republicans in the polls, yet lost in the election, rather reminiscent of Prop. 8 in the 2008
election.

The California anomalies were the basis for an effort pursued with Judy Alter and Dan Ashby, to find a government prosecutor with the subpoena power and will to follow staggeringly improbable vote counts to their source and find out if they were real. Various consulting election lawyers said none would, and ultimately, their pessimism proved correct. This effort was ultimately frustrated, but we learned a lot about the barriers to discovery built into election laws that prevent public examination of critical election evidence.

As a coordinator, Harold is eager to facilitate communication and exchange of technical ideas among members of the EDA Data Analysis Group, all of whose work he has studied and admired.

Jonathan Simon, Co-Founder, Director

Jonathan Simon, a graduate of Harvard College and New York University School of Law, is a member of the Bar of Massachusetts. As a result of his prior experience as a political survey research analyst for Peter D. Hart Research Associates in Washington, he became an early advocate for an exit poll-based electoral "burglar alarm" system, independent of media and corporate control, to detect computerized vote shifting in Election 2004. In the absence of such a system, he was nevertheless able to capture and analyze critical official exit poll data briefly posted on the web prior to its election-night disappearance, data which served as an initial basis for questioning the validity of Election 2004. Dr. Simon is a member of Alliance for Democracy and We Do Not Concede, and has worked closely with several key election integrity organizations, including National Ballot Integrity Project and National Election Data Archive. He has authored or coauthored several papers addressing statistical anomalies and other evidence of computerized election fraud, and has collaborated with Bruce O’Dell in the development of an effective handcount sampling protocol to be deployed as a check mechanism where computerized vote tabulation is used. Because he believes that restoration of fair and honorable elections will depend upon exposure of the systemic fraud currently nullifying American democracy, and because he is deeply skeptical about the impact of proposed federal electoral reform legislation, Dr. Simon has focused much of his effort on the introduction of working hand-counted paper ballot voting methods and/or airtight handcount sampling protocols at the state and local levels.

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Affiliations

 Election Defense Alliance welcomes individual and group endorsements and affiliations with local, regional, and national organizations all working toward our common goals of transparent elections and government accountable to the citizens.

Solar Bus Election Justice Center (VT)

Your home for updated information on the fight for democracy in America

Archives:     http://www.solarbus.org/election/archives.shtml [18]

General Email: election(at)solarbus.org [19]

Election Justice Newsletter

Archives:

• March 11th, 2005 [20] (html)
• April 20th, 2005 [21] (pdf, please print and distribute)
  request an email text version here [22].

Sign up for the free newsletter: election-email(at)solarbus.org [23]

The Solar Bus Election Justice Center is maintained by the Solar Bus project [24].

Alliance for Democracy (National)

Alliance for Democracy

[41]

[41]

AfD National Office [42] Alliance for Democracy National Council Directory [43] Local Alliance Chapters [44] Ronnie Dugger, Founder [45]

AfD National Office [42] The Alliance for Democracy PO Box 540115 760 Main Street Waltham, MA 02454   Phone: 781-894-1179 Fax: 781-894-0279 Email: afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org [46] Ronnie Dugger, Founder [45]

[47] [48] [49] [50] [52] [53] [54] [56] [57] [58] [59]

Illinois Ballot Integrity Project

The Illinois Ballot Integrity Project
is a not-for-profit, non-partisan civic organization dedicated to the correction of election system deficiencies and ensuring fair, accurate, and completely transparent elections.

Fundamental to election integrity is the inscribing of all votes (whether by hand or by machine) on durable paper ballots which are easily handled and verified by the individual voter.

The voter’s paper ballot shall be the only official ballot for purposes of casting, tallying, counting, audit and recount.

The Mission of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project is to inform and educate the public, media and government officials about important election integrity issues and to promote the adoption of legislation and policies designed to secure the democratic process.

Visit us on the web at Ballot-Integrity.org [71].

Psephos-US.org

Home page: http://www.psephos-us.org/Index.html [72] About

Psephos, inspired by the traditions of democracy, is an emerging nonprofit committed to preventing the rise of unchecked power in the United States.

Psephos advocates a return to transparent, secure, verifiable elections where paper ballots are counted by the people... More [73]

Psephos is a nonprofit whose activities support educational, policy development and litigation efforts related to election integrity...More [73]

Psephos Projects
Collectively, the organization's founders have been involved in issues of consumer fraud, civil rights, constitutional law and election integrity...More [74]

Contact Information:
E-mail [75] 
Phone: 619.987.7200
Mailing:
Psephos 3631-D Village Circle Carlsbad, CA 92008

________________________________

PSEPHOS: STATEMENT ON DOCUMENTING ELECTIONS

Elections have meaning only to the extent that they are transparent and verifiable. Free speech rights provide authority for citizens to observe their elections.

But, a conflict, created by government officials, exists between citizens who exercise their unalienable right to alter or abolish government institutions through elections, and the needs of public servants to administer elections.

But, the legitimate needs of election administrators are not in conflict with the rights of citizens. The success of election administrators depends on whether citizens accept the results of an election.

No election can be successful when the process is hidden from the only group that has a legitimate interest in the outcome.

Therefore, administrators need citizens to observe the election process to achieve their only appropriate goal. The current reality is that many election administrators have taken a turn down the path to tyranny by assuming a bunker mentality that seeks to exclude citizens instead of welcoming them.

The irony is that welcoming citizens into the process is in their own best interest.
Full Statement [76]

___________________________________________

ELECTION PREPAREDNESS CITIZENS ELECTION OBSERVER (CEO) GUIDE

People are the CEOs of elections. And, like any executive, people must know something about how elections are conducted in order to be effective in taking responsibility for the success of elections.

Elections are successful when they are transparent and verifiable. Only people can provide legitimacy to elections. Psephos is committed to being a resource for people who want to take action to legitimize their elections. Psephos has prepared a Guide for navigating election day as a CEO.

Use the Guide as a primer and take it with you on election day so you know how best to use your energy.

Download the CITIZENS ELECTION OBSERVER (CEO) GUIDE [77]

We have prepared a smaller pamphlet version of the guide as a convenient pocket checklist. Use it for quick access to important events to document during the different phases of election day.

Download the CEO POCKET GUIDE [78]

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Vote Rescue (TX)

About VoteRescue

Region: Travis County, Texas

VoteRescue is a non-partisan, single-issue group whose focus is on election integrity by hand-counted paper ballots in public view.

VoteRescue's primary method is to educate citizens about the efforts to undermine the fundamental right to vote.

VoteRescue feels that its mission is an important one that transcends political leanings and opinions. As such, the volunteer makeup of VoteRescue is diverse and extensive.

CONTACTS:
Karen Renick [79]
Vickie Karp [80]

MEETINGS:
VoteRescue's meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month unless otherwise posted.

We generally get started around 6:30 p.m. and wrap up around 8:30 p.m.
We usually meet at Brave New Books at 1904 Guadalupe, Austin, TX 78701.

Each meeting date, time and venue will be separately posted so please check this site for details in case of possible venue or time changes!

• HOME [81]
• ABOUT [82]
• MEETINGS [83]
• INFO & FLYERS [84]
• VOLUNTEER [85]
• PARALLEL ELECTIONS [86]

VoteRescue's Mission

* EDUCATE citizens about the ongoing efforts to undermine our fundamental right to vote

* MOTIVATE citizens to help expose and overturn these destructive efforts

* COLLABORATE with other state and national groups that share our goals, and, ultimately

* RESUSCITATE our dying democracy by restoring true power and integrity to each and every vote.

Proposed Projects

* Meet with the Texas Secretary of State, Roger Williams, to follow up our discussions from our first meeting, as well as, discuss the latest damaging findings about the electronic voting machines.

* Expand the solid effort begun by Allen Davidson of H.E.L.P. (Hand-counted Elections Legislative Project) to organize and encourage VR members to make contact (especially in person) with their State Representative and Senator during the current Legislative session. Find a sponsor and co-sponsors of a bill for hand counted paper ballots. VR will also try to monitor the hundreds of bills introduced this session to make certain none are passed that are detrimental to our efforts and the voting rights of Texas voters.

* Meet with Austin City Council Members and the City Manager’s staff who coordinate the city’s special elections with the Travis County Elections Department to discuss the many benefits of using hand counted paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines. Review the Austin City Charter and other codes pertinent to holding elections in the city. * Meet with County Commissioners in Travis and other surrounding counties to explain the many benefits of using hand counted paper ballots for all their special elections.

* Form a VoteRescue speakers bureau to go out to groups throughout Central Texas and the state to spread the word about hand counted paper ballots, the dangers of electronic voting machines and to seek support for legislation in the 2007 Legislature.

* Convene a conference in Austin for voting integrity activists from around the state and Southwest region; invite nationally-recognized VI activists to make informative presentations; offer workshops.

* Continue holding Citizens’ Parallel Elections and complete the PE Kit.

* Make an instructional DVD about the methods and security measures for hand counting paper ballots.

* Provide assistance to groups with their organizational–level elections.

* Continue working with attorneys who are filing lawsuits against the voting machine vendors and public officials.

* Produce PR materials including wallet-size cards, brochures, flyers, bumper stickers and T-shirts for volunteers and for sale.

* Table at many more Austin events.

* Continue to form alliances will other VI groups in Central Texas and around the state.

* Continue to expand the content on the website

* Find a venue and set up regularly scheduled movie nights

* Collaborate with producers at the Public Access Community Television station to develop regularly scheduled shows to spread the word about hand counted paper ballots, the dangers of electronic voting machines and to seek support for legislation in the 2009 Legislature

Endorsements

Contact Us

Postal Mail

Our general mail delivery address is:

Election Defense Alliance
82 Hutchinson Road
Arlington MA 02474-1920

Our mailing address for donations is:

Election Defense Alliance
82 Hutchinson Road
Arlington MA 02474-1920

Fiscal Sponsor

International Humanities Center's mission is to work with other independent nonprofit organizations and sponsored projects that are devoted to a vision of ecological and humanitarian stewardship that benefits all of creation. The IHC seeks to reverse the current situation of pollution, disease, and disconnection by focusing efforts on creating a civilization that is centered upon love, peace, and natural harmony.

To address the multiple challenges requiring immediate attention in our global community, IHCenter is proactively collaborating with qualified projects through its 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsorship program. International Humanities Center is pleased to provide 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsorship for projects that fall within its scope of humanitarian endeavors. IHCenter carefully reviews each independent project, and, once approved, each agrees to share in the cost of administering IHCenter. To accomplish this, projects provide IHCenter with 5% of the revenue donated to their project. IHCenter then uses this revenue to audit project activities to assure compliance with 501(c)(3) criteria, prepare year-end tax returns, and maintain administrative staff and project support services.

How to Use the EDA Website

How to Join EDA

There are many ways to participate in EDA. All of them begin with establishing an EDA web account. 

This first section of the Website Account Guide explains benefits of an EDA website account and how to set up your account and EDA privacy policies.

EDA Website Account Benefits

There is more to the EDA website than just reading the content.

Opening an EDA web account enables you to participate in several ways:

• Only Web account holders can post content to the website.  Your contributions improve the resources for all.
• Receive e-mail communications from EDA and other EDA website members.  (See Account Messaging below). 
  

  ---

Website Account Username

Your real first and last names are required as your account Username, and will be displayed in public view. 
All other information you enter in your web account application form will remain private. 

We recognize that there may be rare exceptions to our general rule, when disclosing your real name would pose a significant personal security risk or an employment conflict (for example, if you are a public official participating as a private citizen).  E-mail info [AT] electiondefensealliance [DOT] org to request a privacy waiver.

Website Account Activation Steps

EDA web accounts are not activated automatically.  All account applications are activated after review by a human administrator.
Your real firstname/lastname Username and a valid e-mail address are required before a web account is activated.   

1. Complete your account registration form, using your real first and last names as your Username.
   
2. You will receive an automated e-mail reply bearing an account link and temporary password.  Do not click on the link until step 4 below.
3. Wait for a "Welcome" message from EDA announcing that your account has been activated.
4. Now click on the account link (from step 2 above) to log in to your My Account page.
5. The account link will take you to your My Account page where you should create a permanent password of your choice.
6. Thereafter, log in to the EDA website with your Username (your real first and last names created in step 1) and the password that you created in step 5.
   

EDA Privacy Policies

Web Accounts

Websites are often anonymous, but EDA is different.  We've got a lot of work to do together to reclaim electioral democracy.  Trust is essential.  We ask that you register with your real first and last name as your username**, and tell us a little bit about yourself.  In return, you will have read and write privileges enabling you to contribute content to the public pages of the EDA website.

Your real name will appear to other website visitors, but the rest of the information you enter in the Web Account Registration Form is visible only to EDA website administrators, and will remain private.  We will not disclose your registration information to any other parties for any reason without your express written permission.

**Privacy Waiver
We recognize that there may be rare exceptions to our general rule, when disclosing your real name would pose a significant personal security risk or an employment conflict (for example, if you are a public official participating here as a private citizen).  E-mail Info [AT] electiondefensealliance [DOT] org to request a privacy waiver, allowing you to register an account with a pseudonym.

Statement of Governance

Statement of Governance

Mission

Election Defense Alliance (EDA) was established as a national coordinating body to promote and support citizen activism at the local and state level to restore integrity and public accountability to the electoral processes of the United States. Our fundamental democratic right has been undermined by the use of computerized vote-counting systems that invisibly tally our ballots unobserved and unprotected from error and undetectable manipulation; EDA is dedicated to restoring citizen oversight and public control of our elections.

Contact Information

Mailing Address: 

Election Defense Alliance 82 Hutchinson Road Arlington MA 02474-1920

E-Mail Address:

Info@ElectionDefenseAlliance.org [92]  

Sponsorship

Election Defense Alliance is a sponsored project of the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism (CICJ), of Columbus, OH, and abides by the terms of agreement with that registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation.

Coordinating Council

1. The advisory body, the EDA Coordinating Council (CC), shall initially be appointed by the Executive Director. New appointments to the Council may be nominated by the Executive Director or by any member of the Council at any time, and shall be approved with a majority vote of the existing Council.
   
   1. The Council is not required but may choose, at any time, to hold Council elections through the general membership. Should such general elections be invoked, the Council shall produce and make public the protocols for ensuring fair and transparent elections.
2. The Coordinating Council shall serve without pay and consist of at least 10 members. This number may be changed at any time with consent of the majority of the Council.
3. Council members shall serve up to four 2-year terms.
4. The Council shall strive for diversity in its members: geographical, areas of expertise, ethnic and racial
5. Vacancies shall be filled by the Council, with the recommendation of the Executive Director, and with consent of the majority of the Council.
6. Council members with more than 50% of absences in any given fiscal quarter may be dismissed from the Council.
7.  A Council member may be removed from the Council by a two-thirds vote.  
8. Eligibility criteria
   
   1. May be affiliated with political parties but shall retain nonpartisan status on this Council
   2. Possess an acceptable level of knowledge and/or expertise and understanding and commitment to EDA’s mission and in the matter of constitutional voting rights and election integrity
   3. Provide assurance regarding time commitment for fulfilling Council duties
   4. Possess the ability to feel comfortable speaking up along with the ability to listen to other’s opinions
   5. Have the capacity to disagree with a Council decision but to support the decision and organization once the vote has been cast
   6. Additionally, certain Council members may have experience fundraising, or the ability to tap into high-dollar donors and/or knowledge of program evaluation
9. The Council shall be responsible for setting the policy for the organization.
   
   1. Creating or updating the mission and vision statements.
   2. Determining the organization’s programs and services.
   3. Approving the strategic plan.
10. The Council shall be responsible for monitoring the organization’s operations:
    
    1. Hiring and periodically evaluating the organization’s Executive Director.
    2. Working with and providing support to the executive.
    3. Approving major contracts and grants.
    4. Soliciting and reviewing program evaluations.
    5. Troubleshooting as necessary.
11. The Council shall be responsible for EDA’s finances:
    
    1. Approving the annual budget, annual report, etc.
    2. Approving all budget allocations over $500. The Director and/or the Executive Committee may approve expenditures equal to or below $500.
    3. Approving any recompense to consultants or employees.
12. The Council shall be responsible for serving as a public figure for the organization
    
    1. Fundraising, by directly donating to the non-profit and soliciting donations from others.
    2. Advocating for the organization.
13. The Council shall be responsible for fulfilling other Council responsibilities

Officers

1. The officers of the Council shall consist of a Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer nominated and elected by the Council.
2. Elected officers shall serve a term of one year. Elections will be held in February.

2.1 The Chair shall preside at all Council meetings, work directly with Executive Director, set meeting agendas, act as spokesperson for the Council, appoint committee members, act as mediator to resolve conflicts among members of the Council or EDA Staff, represent the Coordinating Council at public functions, and perform other duties as associated with the office.

2.2  The Secretary shall (1) record and maintain minutes of the proceedings of the Coordinating Council; (2) provide that all notices are served in accordance with these rules of governance or as required by law; (3) be custodian of the corporate records; (4) when requested or required, authenticate any records of the Council; (5) maintain a current registry of the postal and e-mail addresses and phone numbers of each Council member and to the extent possible, every Working Group member; (6) Maintain organizational documentation and data to be readily accessible and available in the secure online area, and (7) in general perform all duties incident to the office of Secretary and any other duties that the Chair or the Council may assign to the Secretary. The Executive Director may act as secretary.

2.3 The Treasurer shall keep record of the organization’s budget and prepare financial reports as needed. The Treasurer is responsible for reporting the fiscal picture of the organization. The Treasurer shall: (1) have charge of and be responsible for all funds of EDA in accordance with instructions of the International Humanities Center (IHC) pertaining to acceptance and deposit of funds and arranging payments; (2) receive and give receipts for moneys due and payable to EDA from any source, and follow all procedures of CICJ regarding proper handling of funds, receipts, invoices, and all such records; (3) as required by CICJ submit the books and records to CICJ and on request to the Council; (4) make a report at each Coordinating Council meeting; (5) assist the Coordinating Council and Staff in preparation of budgets as requested, help develop fundraising plans, and make financial information available to Council members; and (6) in general perform all of the duties incident to the office of Treasurer and any other duties that the Chair or Council may assign to the Treasurer. Ideally, the Treasurer will have a background in accounting or finance.

Committees

1. The Executive Committee is comprised of 5 Council members. The Executive Committee is concerned with day-to-day decisions and decisions that need to be made between Council meetings.

Three of the five Executive Committee members are the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer of the Council. Executive Council members serve a one-year term and are selected annually at the February Coordinating Council meeting.

Initally, the person appointeed as Co-Director by the former sponsor, IHCenter, will also be a member of the Executive Committee. A fifth inital member will be elected by the full Council.

2. The Coordinating Council may appoint standing and ad hoc committees as needed.

Meetings

1. Coordinating Council
   
   1. Regular meetings shall be held on a monthly basis at minimum.  Unless specified otherwise and agreed upon by the Council, meetings shall be held by telephone conference call, provided all persons entitled to participate in the meeting receive proper notice of the arrangement. A Council member participating in a conference telephone meeting is deemed present in person at the meeting. The Chairperson of the meeting may establish reasonable rules as to conducting the meeting by phone.
   2. Special meetings may be held at any time when called for by the Chair, by a majority of Council members, or by the Executive Committee.
   3. Agendas shall be provided by the Chair and sent out by the Secretary in advance of meetings. Any participant in Election Defense Alliance may submit an agenda item to the Secretary for inclusion in the next Council meeting, and may also submit briefing information to all Council Members regarding the agenda item.
      
      1. For record keeping purposes, the agenda shall contain the following items:
      2. Date
      3. Starting time and Ending time
      4. Items to be covered during the meeting.
      5.  
   4. A Quorum of the Coordinating Council is one more than half the members. 
   5. Decisions are determined by a majority of votes.
2. Executive Committee
   
   1. Meetings of the Executive Committee (EC) will take place by telephone conference call as seen necessary by either the Chair, the Executive Director, or the EC itself. 
   2. If any EC member is absent or unable to act and no other person is authorized to act in such officer's place by the provisions of these rules of governance, the Coordinating Council may from time to time delegate the powers or duties of such officer to any other officer or any Council member or any other person it may select.
   3. Three members constitute a quorum of the five-member Executive Committee.

Voting

1. A majority of Council members constitutes a quorum.
   
   1. In absence of a quorum, no formal action shall be taken except to adjourn the meeting to a subsequent date.
2. Passage of a motion requires a simple majority (ie, one more than half the members present).
3. Voting may take place via the CC listserv when a decision is needed and no meeting is being held.

Conflict of Interest

Any member of the Council who has a financial, personal, or official interest in, or conflict (or appearance of a conflict) with any matter pending before the Council, of such nature that it prevents or may prevent that member from acting on the matter in an impartial manner, will offer to the Council to voluntarily excuse him/herself and will vacate his seat and refrain from discussion and voting on said item. 

“Staff”

Director  
The Director has day-to-day responsibility for the administration of EDA business and duties determined by the Council. The Director is the liaison with our fiscal sponsor, International Humanities Center. The Director is a nonvoting member of the Coordinating Council, unless the Council chooses the Director to also be the Chair. The Director will attend all Council meetings, report on the progress of the organization, answer questions of Council members and carry out the duties described in a job description prepared and approved by the Coordinating Council. The Coordinating Council may designate additional duties of the Director as it deems necessary. The Director shall have full authority for supervision of employees of the Council, if any.

If the Coordinating Council wishes to have an “internal EDA”Director different from the Director appointed by IHCenter, they can so vote. The Council shall have sole authority to hire or dismiss such an “internal” Director by a majority vote.

The Coordinatoing Council shall determine any Director's compensation, if any.

Webmaster  
The Webmaster will be hired by the Coordinating Council, to design, update, and maintain the structure, content and functionality of the Election Defense Alliance website.  The Webmaster will create and maintain a secure password-protected online area to hold EDA data and documentation accessible to the Council and Director with appropriate secure log in credentials. The Webmaster may also be asked to manage the EDA e-mail subscription list and coordinate distribution of periodic EDA e-newsletters and announcements. The compensation of the Webmaster and any terms of employment shall be determined by the Council.

Additional Staff  
The Director or any Coordinating Council member may propose additional hired staff positions, hours, and compensation for the approval of the Coordinating Council contingent on funding availability and budget allocation.

Hiring  
The hiring process including employment interviews shall be conducted by the Director and two members of the Coordinating Council. All new hires shall be approved by the Executive Committee following consultation with the full Council. Election Defense Alliance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation or party affiliation.

Use of the Election Defense Alliance Name and Logo 
Whenever a member wishes to use the Election Defense Alliance name and/or logo, it must receive written and verbal confirmation from the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee will direct the member whether or not the materials require inclusion of the name of the fiscal sponsor as well.

Fiscal Policies

The fiscal year of the Council shall be July 1 through June 30. 

Amendments

These by-laws may be amended by a two-third vote of Council members present at any meeting, provided a quorum is present and a copy of the proposed amendment(s) are provided to each Council member at least one week prior to said meeting.  

These rules of governance were adopted on 3/4/2010 by a unanimous vote of the Coordinating Council.