INDIVISIBLE Lambertville NJ / New Hope PA

Category: Electoral Issues

  • Before, During and After: What Comes Next?

    Before, During and After: What Comes Next?

    Contributed by Cindi Sternfeld. 

    October 21st

    It’s three weeks and two days before the midterm elections. I’m working at a canvass launch site and we’ve just sent out a bunch of canvassers to go knock on doors and spread the word about people who are running for office.  More than half of the people we’ve sent off this morning have never canvassed before, and if you’d asked them two years ago they might not have even known what the initials GOTV stood for. But today they know and they are reaching outside their comfort zone to do the work of Getting Out The Vote.  We train them, connect them with partners and send them out. They don’t need to know it all, they just need to be willing to learn some basics, spread their wings and see what happens. Show up, connect with others, learn what you need and take action. Pretty much what we have done all along.  It’s a rinse and repeat kind of thing.

    October 30th

    It’s one week before the midterms and days after the murders at Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.  My heart is broken. Many of us learned about the shootings when we were at a postcard/canvassing event.  In retrospect, I wish I had stopped, learned more and let everyone there have a moment to absorb this horrible news, but I felt I would have fallen into a puddle on the floor – and we had so much work to do.  In the last few days, I’ve been beating myself up because as a leader in this group, I believe it is my job to offer encouragement and hope, but also to offer a place for people to bring the hard stuff and feel it in the safety of our embracing community.  

    Today I realize that it would have been okay to let myself fall into a puddle of sadness if I needed to, because I know who we are.  I know what we are made of. I know what fuels us. It is the vast power of all that we love, it is our hope, our passion. And sometimes, it is also the sum of our sadness and grief as we bear witness to these senseless acts of hate and oppression.  We may not be able to prevent bad things from happening but I know we will be here to support each other when they do. The day after the tragic event, I connected with my Rabbi and friends, and showed up at the service in Richboro, PA, surrounded by Indivizzies and the larger community.  It was healing and helpful. There it was again. Show up, connect with others, learn what you need and take action.

    To the question at hand: What’s next?  I’m not going to lie. I don’t know what will happen next.  I do not know what will happen on Election Day. It feels as if we need to create an intricate decision tree: If we win the House but not the Senate; if we win nothing, if we win it all.  But what’s next is not about what happens on November 6th.  It’s WHO WE ARE that will determine what’s next.   

    After the election we will take a breath and rest for a few minutes.  Then we will be looking for you to step forward, identify the issues you care about and volunteer to work with others to learn and ultimately help the group to take the next steps.  While the issues we delve into and the answers to them might vary, the machinery of how we do it will stay the same. We will show up. We will connect with our community. We will figure out what we need to know and learn together, and we will take action that aligns with our values.

    So while I don’t know exactly what’s next, I promise you this, if you keep showing up, I’ll keep showing up.  Let’s show up together – for all of it, the days we feel like a puddle and the all more frequent days we can celebrate this fierce community and the democracy we love.  

  • Celebrate or Take Heart

    Contributed by Amara Willey. 

    It has been clear from the outset that we are playing a long game in the realm of healthy democracy. With the current president in the news every day with new and distasteful messages, it may be difficult to maintain optimism about our Republic and the fail-safes the founding fathers created to protect it. If nothing else, however, the last two years have motivated people to become more politically active and involved in the process, which is vital to the functioning of a healthy democracy in the first place.

    NJ-7 Congressional candidate, Tom Malinowski, reassures us that we aren’t in the realm of dictatorship despite current worries about where the country is going. Malinowski came to the United States from Communist Poland when he was 6 years old and had the “human rights beat” in the State Department under President Obama. From that perspective, he said that even as a young boy, this country felt completely different from Poland.

    At a recent coffee, Malinowski shared what he saw as the likely outcome if Democrats take the House and Republicans keep the Senate. As the majority party in the House, Democrats would have the opportunity to:

    • Set the policy agenda for the House,
    • Negotiate with Senate Republicans to get bills passed, and
    • Work to pass laws already approved by the Senate that the Speaker of the House has been keeping off the floor.

    If the president chooses not to sign or to veto legislation passed by Congress, that will send a clear message to voters, Malinowski says.

    Despite many complaints about the electoral college, our country’s emphasis on states’ rights can actually help us through the next decade. The good news for checks and balances is the number of gubernatorial races that are likely to go Blue. Having Democratic governors sets the stage for the Election in 2020, not just as an indicator of backlash and in terms of testing messages that sway voters, but also as a force to drive policy agendas at the state level. When a national election is close, state government can have an impact on the outcome.

    Taking a longer view, state officials will begin the process of redistricting once the census is completed in 2020. This will set the stage through 2030 for fair voting. If state-level Democrats do well in this election and in 2020, much of the GOP gerrymandering that happened ten years ago can be reversed.

    We’ve been working for two long years towards a saner government, and we hope the outcome of this election demonstrates that. We aren’t done, however. Whatever happens on Nov. 6, we can take a couple of days to celebrate or mourn, however we like, and then we need to get back out there doing what we’ve been doing for the last two years.

  • VOTE on (or before) November 6: What’s At Stake

    Contributed by Action Groups.

    Artwork by Sarah Bush. Posters available. Donations welcome.

    Maybe we don’t have to give you more reasons to vote, but maybe we can encourage you to step up your efforts to get your family, friends and community to increase their efforts to GOTV. As of this writing, polls are saying that Republicans are narrowing the gap in the number of voters planning to head to the polls – so much so that the Blue Wave may not happen after all. Right now, all of our civil rights are being attacked and eroded. Here’s a small sampling of what’s at stake:

    • Vulnerable rights include Workers’ Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, Women’s Rights, Prisoners’ Rights, Students’ Rights, First Amendment Rights, and Minority Rights.
    • The Right to Vote is on the line! Voters’ names are being purged from the rolls, and voting is being made less accessible for many poor, minority, and elderly voters. In NJ, people who are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole are denied the right to vote. Note: NJ denies the right to vote to 94,000 people with criminal convictions, and  three-fourths of those are on parole or probation, which means they are living in their communities. While 15% of NJ’s population is black, 50%of those denied the right to vote are black). Gerrymandering dilutes the power of individual votes.
    • Immigrants’ Rights are on the line! Nationally, we need to end family separations, end the detention of children, protect families, and protect individuals’ rights to due process! Locally, we need protections for all of our residents in our communities and protections for towns and cities who are identifying as Fair and Welcoming Communities or as Sanctuary Cities. We need to grant driver’s licenses to people without documentation.
    • The Federal Judiciary will be instrumental in interpreting voting laws that protect all citizens’ right to vote, gerrymandering challenges, and all civil rights! As the Trump administration packs federal judicial vacancies, our rights are weakened. All civil rights are at stake! Get out and vote to protect all of our rights!
    • The effectiveness of the 2020 census, which drives billions of dollars that come into communities from the federal government, and helps ensure accurate voting districts that foster true democratic representation in the electoral process. The effectiveness is currently compromised by inadequate oversight, including the necessary resources for outreach and cybersecurity.
    • Public safety with protection from gun violence and the protection of our natural resources, including clean land, air and water. What kind of world do you want to live in?

    What’s important to you and at risk? Use it to have the conversations to drive awareness and personal responsibility to ensure those who are given the power to govern actually deserve it.

  • WARNING: Our Votes Are At Risk

    Insecure, obsolete, unverifiable.
    These words describe the voting systems used in New Jersey and much of Pennsylvania.
    New Jersey is one of the last five states in the nation allowing paperless, unauditable voting systems. More than 80% of Pennsylvania has unauditable voting machines that make recounts impossible, and prevent any chance of proving our votes have been recorded as intended. If our votes get lost due to computer malfunctions, mistakes, or hacking – all highly possible with our outdated systems – we will never know.
    Nationally recognized expert Andrew Appel, professor of computer science at Princeton University, has done seminal work on voting machine vulnerability. In an interview with NJ.com, Appel shared how easy it is to quickly reprogram voting machines and enable votes for one candidate to go to the other. This actually happened in Cumberland County, NJ, in 2011. A landmark lawsuit resulted. In Zirkle vs. Henry the judge ruled that, “bad computer code had given Zirkle’s votes to Henry and Henry’s votes to Zirkle.” Additionally, it took one of Appel’s students seven seconds to hack into a central processor used for tallying votes. All of New Jersey plus 83% of Pennsylvania, and all of Bucks County are still voting with the systems that can allow this to happen.
    With the threat of hacking greater than ever, we have to act fast.
    “The head of every U.S. intelligence agency says Russia attempted to penetrate elections systems nationwide during the 2016 presidential election, and will try again during this year’s midterm elections.” – Pew Charitable Trust
    The Solution
    Hundreds of computer security experts who testified before Congress agree: The safest way to vote is with voter-marked paper ballots, run through optical/digital scanners to backup each vote, plus non-tabulating ballot marking devices for people with disabilities.
    The Center for American Progress agrees. “Voter-verifiable paper ballots or records are necessary for conducting meaningful post election audits that confirm election outcomes and detect malicious activity. Paperless touch-screen voting systems should be replaced with paper ballots and optical scanners.”
    In “The Myth of the Hacker-Proof Voting Machine,” cybersecurity expert, Jacob D. Stauffer, says, “What I’ve seen in the past 10 years is that the vendors have absolutely fumbled every single attempt in security,’’ In a report published last year on voting machines from ES&S – one of the biggest vendors in the nation, Stauffer and colleagues “found the voting machines and election-management systems to be rife with security problems.”
    “Without a paper audit trail, any recount is just like hitting enter on the keyboard over and over again: You get the same answer and you have no clue if that answer is correct,” Joseph Lorenzo Hall, election security expert.
    Pending Legislation
    NJ Bill A1889, introduced by Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, is in the process of being amended to prohibit paperless DREs, and specifically mandate voter-marked paper ballot voting systems, optical or digital scanners, and at least one non-tabulating ballot marking device at every polling place in New Jersey. When the amendments are finalized, this bill will be ready for introduction to the committee that will vote on its passage. Work is also in progress to finalize a companion bill in the NJ State Senate. We’ll be keeping you posted on this too.
    Our lobbyists are making sure that the amended language in A1889 is crystal clear, airtight, and completely unambiguous. This is critical. Otherwise election officials can purchase hackable machines that commercial vendors are offering, with promises of easy tabulation and glitch-free use.
    Convincing county voting officials to use paper ballot voting won’t be easy. And convince them we must, since they decide which voting technology will be used in each county. Voting machine vendors are actively pursuing them, some claiming their machines will preclude the need for manual audits and recounts. That would defeat the whole purpose of requiring paper-based systems. Thus, we need to educate NJ and PA citizens fast. See Calls to Action below and stay tuned for more Action Alerts to come.
    In PA, H.R. 3132 – Restoring Confidence in America’s Elections Act was introduced in July, 2017, but appears to be going nowhere. After a yearlong study, The Advisory Committee on Voting Technology recommended amending the Pennsylvania Election Code to require a voter-verifiable paper record in all voting machines. Governor Wolf then directed that all new voting systems have a paper record, however, lack of funding, decertification of existing technology, or designating a replacement date leaves the directive in limbo.
    Verified Voting President Marian Schneider, former special advisor on election policy to Governor Wolf says, “The state can no longer ignore these issues and must take steps to replace its aging voting systems as soon as possible.” Some electronic voting machines were manufactured in the early 2000s, and even though the lifespan of these machines is only 10 to 15 years, they are still in use. Schneider recommends, “implementing the best practice of requiring trustworthy evidence of voter intent . . .voter marked paper ballots together with a method of checking the paper records to make sure that the electronic vote tallies are correct.”
    Many groups across Pennsylvania, including SAVE Bucks Votes, are coordinating visits to Harrisburg, urging legislators to replace old voting systems and fund new ones. We’re trying to introduce them to the most secure systems available for the 2018 elections.
    As in New Jersey, County Commissioners are the decision makers. Repeated attempts to meet with Bucks County commissioners have been made, to no avail. There’s been resistance, and we assume it’s because of the cost. They’ve implied there hasn’t been widespread support for changing the way we vote. That’s why we all need to help educate them.
    Another Big Challenge: Funding****
    In NJ, Governor Murphy has pledged his support for secure verified voting, but our state is cash-strapped and running on a deficit. The paper ballot voting systems described above have been estimated to cost $36 million, which sounds like a lot, but only represents about .1 percent of the State budget. We need to push Governor Murphy to include an appropriation in his 2018 budget and let him know we want him to fund secure voting.
    Our new Secretary of State, Tahesha Way, needs to hear from us too. The Division of Election falls under her purview, and voting machine vendors are already knocking on her door. There’s big money to be made for them if they can convince her that direct recording electronic voting machines, are safe and secure. Our task is to get Secretary Way fully up to speed on the need for paper ballot voting, rather than slick new machines that deliver a doorway to hacking.
    Pennsylvania is also running a deficit. Verified Voting advocates are working in Harrisburg to urge lawmakers to support funding. They’re also looking at alternatives on the County level. Bucks County maintains a surplus general fund to keep its credit rating high. We need to convince the Commissioners that this money could fund new voting systems that are more secure and cheaper to maintain. Look for Action Alerts at the end of this article so you can help.
    ****In late breaking news, the 2,232-page budget bill signed by the president included a provision that election security and technology experts have been pushing for years: money to update the nation’s outdated voting infrastructure. NJ stands to get a portion of that: just under $10 million according to this article from NJSpotlight.com. However, more work needs to be done in a few short months.
    “What I’ve seen in the past 10 years is that the vendors have absolutely fumbled every single attempt in security.” – Jacob D. Stauffer, cyber-security expert quoted in the NY Times
    We recommend that voters make an effort to vote early and to hand-deliver ballots to the county election office. Ballots can be requested online. We strongly suggest hand-delivering ballots to avoid adding to many reported cases of ballots “lost in the mail.”
    THE BOTTOM LINE:
    The only way New Jersey and Pennsylvania will have verified voting in time for the 2018 election is with your help. Spread the word. Share this article, talk to your family, tell your neighbors. The right to vote is a precious one, and it will take all of us to preserve it. We can’t give up if the road gets dicey. We’re bigger than that. The past year has strengthened us. It’s fortified our grit. We know what it is to fight.
    TAKE ACTION NOW!
    In New Jersey:
    Contact NJ Secretary of State, Tahesha Way. Call: 609-777-0884 Fax: 609-292-7665 Email: Feedback@sos.nj.govScript: Please secure our votes! The only way to insure every vote is counted, and none hacked is with voter marked paper ballots, optical/digital scanners, and non-tabulating ballot-marking device for voters with disabilities. No more hackable electronic voting machines.Tweet: MAKE NJ VOTES SECURE, @SecretaryWay. Voter-marked paper ballots, optical/digital scanners & non-tabulating ballot-marking devices for voters with disabilities. We need this now. Thank you. Tweet the message above easily with this click-to-tweet: https://ctt.ec/e_8Ob (You must have a Twitter account; you can edit the tweet before posting it.)
    Contact Governor Phil Murphy Call: 609-292-6000 Fax: 609-292-3454 Email: http://nj.gov/governor/contact/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/governorphilmurphy/

    Script: Please fund secure voting in NJ in time for the 2018 midterm elections on Nov 6th: Voter marked paper ballots, optical/digital scanners, and non-tabulating ballot-marking device for voters with disabilities. No more hackable electronic voting machines. Fund secure voting now. Thank you!Tweet: FUND SAFE VOTING IN NJ, @GovMurphy. Voter-marked paper ballots, optical/digital scanners & non-tabulating ballot-marking device for voters with disabilities. We need this now. Thank you! Tweet the message above easily with this click-to-tweet: https://ctt.ec/U3fMr (You must have a Twitter account; you can edit the tweet before posting it.)

    In Pennsylvania:
    Follow SAVE Bucks Votes on Facebook for constant updates, articles and action alerts. Check out our website, sign our online petition, attend a meeting, help fund our efforts, make suggestions, visit lawmakers with us, get involved a little or a lot, help us make people aware of the issue and create grassroots momentum
    Contact the following County and State Officials using this script:“Please fund secure, accurate, verifiable election systems now. We need voter marked paper ballots, optical/digital scanners, audits, and non-tabulating ballot marking devices for voters with disabilities for every election. The new technologies are cheaper, easier to use and easily verifiable. Decertify the DRE electronic machines now. Help us move forward to secure upcoming elections. Thank you!”
    County Commissioners Rob Loughery
    County of Bucks, Office of Commissioners
    55 East Court Street, Doylestown, PA 18901
    Phone: 215-348-6424
    County Commissioner Diane Marseglia
    County of Bucks, Office of Commissioners
    55 East Court Street, Doylestown, PA 18901
    Phone: 215-348-6425
    County Commissioner Charles Martin
    County of Bucks, Office of Commissioners
    55 East Court Street, Doylestown, PA 18901
    Phone: 215-348-6426
    Contact PA Governor WolfOffice of the Governor508 Main Capitol BuildingHarrisburg, PA 17120Phone: 717-787-2500Fax: 717-772-8284
    Contact PA Secretary of State Robert TorresOffice of the Secretary302 North Office BuildingHarrisburg, PA 17120Phone: 717-787-6458Fax: 717-787-1734
    Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation210 North Office Building, 401 North StreetHarrisburg, PA 17120Phone: 717-787-5280Fax: 717-705-0721

  • VOTING INTEGRITY: Action needed by Tuesday March 13, 2018!

    I’ve been doing this intensive activism work for almost 15 months and every day I reach into my hope- and fear-filled brain for motivation. The New York Times waits at my door to supply me with a fresh new batch of outrage, and before I’ve filled my coffee cup for the second time, my brain is clicking on what action I can take.

    But what happens when the biggest threat to our democracy, and our response to it, is not sexy enough to be in the news? That’s where we are.

    Here’s the deal. Right now there are clear indicators that the November vote is completely vulnerable to hacking by Russians and other conservative interests. New Jersey is one of the five most hackable states in the nation and our current system is such that even if we are hacked, we don’t even have a check-back mechanism to know it.

    Think about that. A simple software tweak and votes cast for your candidates could be tallied for their opponents … and there is no way to go back and audit or re-count the vote. If you think this is far-fetched, know that this happened in Cumberland County once and was only discovered by chance.

    We are going to work like crazy to elect candidates that represent our progressive values. Before that happens, we need to work like crazy to protect and secure our votes.

    There are a few remedies. One is a system called Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). This method entails using an electronic device to cast votes and then printing a paper that the voter can view behind a glass, check for accuracy and push a button to verify that the votes on the paper are correct.

    Here’s the rub: VVPAT can be hacked and issue a document that is difficult to see because the print is very small. Most election officials like it because it does not require much more work at the polls and it’s cheaper. But as is the case with most quick, cheap fixes, it’s not sufficient.

    If we are going to fix this problem — really fix this problem — we need three things, and they will cost a lot of money: $36 million. Our current state budget is so deep in the hole that there is very little political will to allocate funds for securing the vote, a convenient reality for those who might benefit from hacking.

    Here is what the experts suggest is needed in order for New Jersey to be unhackable:
    Paper Ballots to be marked by voters.Optical scanners that will read the ballots and tally the votesBallot marking devices for voters with disabilities

    Next Tuesday, Governor Phil Murphy will deliver his budget address. Before then, we need to send him the message that securing the vote is our top priority. Please call, fax, tweet, email and push him, New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way and New Jersey Treasurer Liz Muoio to allocate money in the 2018 budget. It is the ONLY way we are assured our vote will be secure in November.

    Governor Phil Murphy
    Call: (609) 292-6000
    Fax: 609-292-3454
    Email: http://nj.gov/governor/contact/
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/governorphilmurphy/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/govmurphy
    Tweet: @GovMurphy (Tweet Script: MAKE NJ VOTES SECURE! Put $36 million in your budget for paper ballot voting with optical scanners & non-tabulating ballot-marking device for voters with disabilities.)

    Tahesha Way, NJ Secretary of State
    Fax: (609) 292-7665
    Email: Feedback@sos.nj.gov
    Tweet: @SecretaryWay ‏ (Tweet Script: HELP MAKE NJ VOTES SECURE. $36 million needed in 2018 budget for paper ballot voting with optical scanners & non-tabulating ballot-marking device for voters with disabilities.)

    Liz Muoio, New Jersey Treasurer
    Department of the Treasury P. O. Box 002 Trenton, NJ 08625-0002 609-292-6748