Was the Iranian election stolen? There have been numerous highly suspicious circumstances reported that strongly suggest that possibility-- and the government lockdown on the press and violent suppression of dissent only intensify that suspicion. Clearly, millions of Iranians are convinced they've been defrauded.

When in doubt, count. A global NGO called Avaaz (the word means "voice") is rapidly mobilizing resources for an exit poll of Iranian voters and a media effort to publicise it -- working with an international polling firm to do a telephone survey of Iranian citizens to ask how they voted.

Avaaz writes: "Public polling in Iran is heavily restricted, and no-one else is mobilizing fast enough to fund an international exit poll. It's urgent that we pitch in. A telephone poll won't be 100% accurate, but the difference between opposition and government claims is massive -- a rigorous poll can show which claim is remotely near the truth.

Unlike Western organizations, Avaaz's global network has a strong membership in Iran and across the Middle East. Backed by a respected polling firm, our effort will be harder to dismiss by Iranian conservatives. We'll send the poll results to the media and help our members in Iran to rapidly and virally spread the news despite the regime's blackout."

Avaaz is calling for 10,000 people worldwide to pitch in a small amount each to raise $119,000 in the next 72 hours to fund the telephone exit poll. Follow this link to support the Iranian exit poll and pass it along to others: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/  [17]

We at Election Defense Alliance are in favor of this idea -- having organized and conducted exit polls ourselves in the U.S. 2006 midterm and 2008 presidential elections. And we know that it is crucially important to act quickly before perceptions are fixed and the momentum of events forecloses any possibility for a re-examination of the count.

"Confronted by a growing crackdown, millions of men and women are protesting across Iran, sparked by outrage at the mounting evidence that the Ahmadinejad government may have rigged and stolen Thursday's election. This is a crucial moment for Iran and the world. We can help by urgently organising a rigorous "exit poll" of Iranian citizens by telephone to ask how they voted, publiczsing the results  and helping spread the news in Iran.

Over a third of the votes are at stake. Our poll can establish whose claims are credible. If we can reach $119,000 in the next 24 hours, we can release the results before the Guardian Council's review of the results is complete; and if we raise more, we can expand this campaign. We urgently need 10,000 of us to pitch in with a small amount each."

Support the exit poll now using this secure link:  https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_vote_truth/?cl=255588905&v=3506
[17]
"The conservative Guardian Council, headed by a key Ahmadinejad ally, is reviewing the vote over the next 9 days. Our poll can be ready before they give their verdict, to counter any further rigging and the violent purge that could follow. There is a real possibility that democracy will prevail.

About this blog:
The EDA Director's Blog will be largely about strategy and tactics for organizing the mass citizen movement that will be necessary to bring about real transparency and public accountability in U.S. elections. I'll be sharing ideas and techniques that election integrity activists can adopt and apply anywhere -- and I'll welcome your ideas and recommendations. -- Dan Ashby

---

Source:   The TED Blog, http://blog.ted.com/2009/06/clay_shirky_how.php [22]

Clay Shirky: How Cellphones, Twitter, Facebook Can Make History

While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics.

 

Video location: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/575 [23]
(Recorded at TED@State, at the US State Department, June 2009, in Washington, DC. Duration: 17:03)

Watch Clay Shirky's talk from TED@State on TED.com where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 450+ TEDTalks.

Get TED delivered:
Subscribe to the TEDTalks video podcast via RSS [24]

The following photos were taken on the night of the May 19, 2009 special election in Riverside County by Tom Courbat, as he made his rounds observing election procedures and conditions. 

This photo guide to election monitoring explains the purpose of each election document or item pictured, commenting on recent improvements in election procedure, contrasted to the lax practices of the past, and pointing out where problems still persist.

Tom and the SAVE R VOTE group he founded have been thoroughly monitoring Riverside County elections for the past four years. Their repeated reports documenting serious breaks in the Riverside election system finally move the county Board of Supervisors to commission a countywide elections audit. Tom served as citizen advisor to the accounting firm hired to carry out the $300,000 review, which resulted in the Riverside County Elections Department finally implementing many of the procedural safeguards SAVE R VOTE had been advocating for years.

In the May 19th election, Tom was pleased to find Riverside's election procedures vastly improved as a result of the new policies adopted following the recommendations of the election auditing consultant and SAVE R VOTE.

Tom notes: "Many documents now contain the date and type of election on every page for the first time, as recommended by SAVE R VOTE (SRV).  Previously, when pages were removed from a document for copying or scanning, there was no way to categorically state the page was from a specific election on a specific date."

Ballot Statement Instruction Sheet and Ballot Statement (left and right respectively).

Vastly improved from prior versions. The Ballot Statement is an official form required to be accurately completed by election workers following the close of polls and prior to sending all voting materials to collection centers. This form accounts for all regular and provisional paper ballots – blanks received, ballots spoiled, voted ballots, and unused ballots. It also accounts for all regular and provisional electronic ballots cast. SAVE R VOTE (SRV) had recommended numbering each line and constructing instructions accordingly. This was accomplished for the first time in the May 2009 Election.

HOWEVER, this form omits critical information, previously recorded in prior elections until a procedural change starting with the November 2008 election. The  information that should be recorded on this form, but that is now missing, would compare information from the Voter Roster about how each voter cast their ballot, with the numbers of each type of ballot cast: electronic, electronic provisional, paper, or paper provisional. Without this comparison, there is no way to confirm that the voters who signed the roster as having cast a provisional electronic ballot, for example, actually did cast an electronic provisional ballot.  The signature counts from the Voter Roster are simply “grossed up” to the total number of ballots cast, with no reference to the numbers of each type of ballot cast. So, for example, if more people voted on paper than signed up to do so,  and fewer voted electronically than signed up to do so, the numbers could “balance” (one error offsets the other) but the discrepancy will not be noted, investigated, or reconciled. This is a step backwards.
The electronic Results Cartridge (memory card) is placed in an unsealed clear plastic pouch and placed in the Voted Ballot carton along with the voted ballots and the carbon copy of the Ballot Statement. The Voted Ballot Carton is then sealed for delivery to the central counting location.

The red canvass bag contains vote-by-mail ballots that were dropped off at the precinct, provisional ballots, the street index, and other miscellaneous ballots and documents.

 

In today's Tucson Citizen we get three views on the RTA election investigation and recount. Please take the time to read and comment.  We're not done investigating. 
--  John R Brakey, EDA Investigations Coordinator

Bill Risner, counsel for Pima County Democratic Party:

Full transparency is the answer in achieving solid results and public trust [33]

"Our primary concern by far, however, is future elections."
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/115236.php [34]

=========================

AZ Attorney General Terry Goddard:
"Establishing election procedures that are secure, accurate and transparent is fundamental to maintaining public confidence in our democratic process."

Nearly identical recount by hand shakes allegations of wrongdoing [35]
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/opinion/115234 [35]

=========================

Chuck Huckelberry, Pima County Administrator:
"This remarkable accuracy is a testament to the integrity and diligence of Elections Director Brad Nelson and Computer Specialist Bryan Crane, as well as the elections staff."

Improvements in voting process, refuting fraud a win-win for county [36]
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/fromcomments/115235.php [36]

======================

Published Monday, April 27 in the Tucson Citizen

Full Transparency is the Answer in Achieving Solid Results and Public Trust

By Bill Risner

The Pima County Democratic Party is in unanimous agreement that the accurate counting of our votes is fundamental, critical and non-negotiable. Some 1,500 of our volunteers work at each election to ensure the honesty of those elections.

The recent RTA ballot count by the Attorney General's office was a by-product of that effort but, by no means, a central focus. The central problem is that we use a computer system that makes cheating easy and detection difficult. The RTA was endorsed by the Democratic Party. Our concerns had nothing to do with the plan. It had everything to do with the sworn affidavit in which the computer operator confessed to rigging the election on the instruction of his county bosses.

That reported confession combined with our analysis of the database that revealed multiple anomalies consistent with such rigging required an investigation, in our view, to settle a supremely important question. Local newspapers and the Republican and Libertarian parties joined in our request for a serious investigation.

Since the ballots had been in the custody of Pima County officials for the past two and a half years, the issue of whether those ballots were the original ballots was a necessary issue to resolve.

Pima County owns a ballot printing machine and the 'GEMS' election software still contains all the printing instructions for that election. The original ballots were printed on an offset press by the Runbeck Company and Pima County's ballot printing machine uses a laser printer. We asked the Attorney General to conduct a forensic examination itself, or to allow us to look at the ballots with a microscope to confirm that they were all offset-printed. The Attorney General refused both requests.

We noted that the simple non-destructive examination of sample ballots would serve our mutual goal of public confidence. Despite the presence of the microscope during the one-and-a-half weeks that the ballots were being counted, the Attorney General never permitted the examination of any ballots. We regret that he chose not to resolve that obvious issue since it was both important and easy to resolve.

However, our primary concern, by far, concerns future elections. The value of examining past election practices is to ensure that corrections and safeguards are in place for future elections. The entire election process is dependant on doing it right in the first place. The common problem shared by all citizens in Pima County is that it is easy to cheat using our computer system and very difficult to do anything about it. The 'easy-to-cheat' issue is agreed upon by all knowledgeable observers. Interestingly, those who know the most about computers are the least comfortable with them counting our votes using secret software instructions. Some sample quotes explain the problem.