Guard your Vote

From: maureen smith <mmsmith [at] cruzio.com>
Subject: Fwd: [ELECTION_CA] Purge Panic

Please forward this information to all it may help to vote on Tuesday!

Subject: 145,000

Dear Friends,

The Northern Californian ACLU has filed a lawsuit ( http://www.aclunc.org/cases/index.shtml) against GOP Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and Choicepoint for purging 145,000 African-American and Latino "felons" in California to prevent them from voting in the November election.

People should be advised to go on Monday to their County Elections Office to vote (on a paper or provisional ballot, if their names have been incorrectly purged as happened in Florida in 2000 by the same company Choicepoint). If the citizen has not yet received any information from his or her county regarding the November 7 election, that is a sign that his or her name has been possibly tagged as that of a "felon." It is not a good idea to wait until Tuesday because of the election day crowds, and it is wise to go to the County Election Office to submit the ballot, if possible.

The ACLU sued Choicepoint in Florida after the 2000 election and the company had to pay the NAACP $75,000 for disenfranchising legitimate African-American Democratic voters that the company had incorrecty listed as felons. Apparently 91,000 errors were made (of the 95,000 citizens prevented from voting in Florida in 2000). It is worthy of note that at the time of the Florida election purge, Choicepoint was located in McKinney, Texas, the same city in which Diebold was and is located. Choicepoint has since changed its address to the Atlanta metropolitan area to a place called Alpharetta.

In a related matter Rep. Edward Markey of Massachussetts and Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida have both filed bills to have the Federal Trade Commission impose greater oversight of such companies as Choicepoint (HR 1078) because the company was also heavily criticized at Congressional hearings for selling 145,000 consumer identities located at the Bank of America to a group of thieves that had misrepresented themselves as a legitimate company. Choicepoint agreed to pay $15 million to the Federal Trade Commission ($5 million of which was to go to victims of fraud).

In 2005 Choicepoint was hired with Diebold to purge the voting rolls in California. Diebold set out before the primary to eliminate names of approximately 145,000 legiimate voters who made the slightest error on their voter registration forms when they first registered in the state or reregistered after moving. And, as we see from the ACLUNC lawsuit (whose focus is slightly different than mine since my focus is on the unusual history of the company itself), Choicepoint is repeating its efforts to cleanse the voter rolls of socalled "felons" as it did in Florida in 2000.

So please tell citizens that if they have not yet received the appropriate elections information for November 7, they should go to the County Elections Office on Monday to ensure that they have a ballot on which to vote.

(1) They should take extra care to use the exact information on their state ID or license to submit their paper ballot.

(2) They should request a second ballot if they make a mistake, such as overvoting for two candidates for the one race.

(3) Their signature should be legiibly written and include the names from their driver's licenses.

Sincerely,
Ann West