[Voterescue] IMPORTANT!! SC Constitution Prohibits Use of Voting Machines

Thu Jan 17 18:20:56 CST 2008

/*An Open Letter to Senator John Edwards: The South Carolina 
Constitution Prohibits Secret Vote Counting! *
_http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_mark_a___080117_an_open_letter_to_se.htm_/
/*Now is our chance to send a huge message to not only John Edwards but 
to our fellow American citizens that secret vote counting by machines is 
unconstitutional and they must be banned before the upcoming South 
Carolina Primaries this Sat., January 19, 2008.
*/

/*Will You Take Action?*

*ACTION #1:* Spread the word about this open letter by sending this 
e-mail with this preface note out to all your contacts who want to take 
back our elections from the voting machines that count all our votes in 
secret. 
//*ACTION #2:* Go to the "Open Letter to Senator John Edwards" at 
OpEdNews (link shown above) and digg it, submit it to reddit, and post a 
comment before the flacks from the ministry of truth start trying to 
discredit it! /
/*ACTION #3:* //Copy and e-mail John Edwards and his campaign a copy of 
the "Open Letter" below. Their addresses are: phatch at johnedwards.com; 
jedwards at johnedwards.com; dbonior at johnedwards.com; 
jtrippi at johnedwards.com; info at johnedwards.com

*Please join the fight _now_ when the opportunity to strike is the BEST! *
/

*
*

*SC's Constitution Prohibits Secret Vote Counting -- Will You Take Action?*

Dear Senator Edwards:

I heard your call for eliminating touch screen voting machines. Of 
course, being from South Carolina you are certainly aware of its use of 
touch screen voting machines. Last Friday afternoon, I looked into South 
Carolina's use of the infamous iVotronic touch screen voting machine, 
and I discovered that it's banned by South Carolina's Constitution.

Some of the key information from my article "South Carolina Elections 
Are UNCONSTITUTIONAL!?!" 
(http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_mark_a___080114_south_carolina_elect.htm) 
published on Monday January 14, 2008 on OpEdNews.com follows:

Article II, § 1 of the Constitution of South Carolina states, "the 
ballots shall not be counted in secret." Although there is case law 
which supports the right to have votes counted in public, this is the 
election integrity jackpot, a Constitutional provision prohibiting 
counting votes in secret! No more need to refer to case law, evidence, 
or logic to argue against secret vote counting, at least in South Carolina.

Many are worried about election integrity. In fact, a Zogby poll from 
August of 2006 indicates that 92% of Americans are worried about our 
votes being counted in secret. See, 
http://www.zogby.com/templates/printnews.cfm?id=1163

South Carolina is the best opportunity to make a case against allowing 
computers to count the votes in secret. I've discussed this with two 
leading election law advocates who have also brought election contests. 
They both think that this is the best opportunity to act that they have 
seen. The South Carolina Constitution prohibits secret vote counting! 
The election reform community expects one of the Presidential candidates 
to take action.

I've already heard from four, now five, radio shows that want me to come 
on as a guest speaker this week to discuss this issue. Congressman 
Kucinich has a lot of support in the election reform movement, and he 
might take action on this. He came out against the Holt bill after 
meeting with me last summer.

Congressman Ron Paul has been a consistent defender of Constitutional 
rights. It would seem like he would jump on this case. Maybe he is 
working on it, but he didn't ask for a recount in New Hampshire. Also, 
he is running out of time.

You could sit back and wait to see whether someone else takes legal 
action, then join in or sit by and just speak in support of another's 
effort. If so, you lose the opportunity to take the lead and grab the 
spotlight.

Most importantly, if you act before the Republican primary, you can make 
it a non-partisan issue. You would be working to help make sure that 
even Republicans' constitutional rights are respected. Certainly, that 
would make the Daily Show as well as all of the late night shows. I can 
see it now, John Stewart saying, "John Edwards has taken legal action to 
protect the Constitutional rights of Republicans. You know, those guys 
who don't care about Constitutional rights!" It would explode across 
America!

When Ellis Rubin, Luke Lirot and I filed suit last year to seek an 
injunction to get Max Linn, the Reform Party candidate for Governor of 
Florida, into the Gubernatorial debates, he got a lot of press, the 
campaign's phones started ringing off of the hook, there was a major 
increase in requests for signs and bumper stickers, and his poll numbers 
went from 5% to 8.7%, a 74% increase just for standing up for his right 
to debate. Of course, the media claimed that his support in their polls 
showed less than 2%, but they would not produce any evidentiary basis 
for their polls. We did, and we won injunctions twice!

I think that you would get an even bigger boost because as the Zogby 
poll shows, 92% were concerned about secret vote counting in August of 
2006. How many are concerned about debates? 25 to 30% at best. Plus, 
after all of the problems with the 2006 elections and the New Hampshire 
primary, I would say that even more people are concerned about election 
integrity now.

You know what to do, but to help expedite things, I suggest that you or 
your representative send a letter to the South Carolina State Election 
Commission pointing out that using touch screen computers to count the 
votes in secret violates the prohibition in Article II, § 1 against 
secret vote counting, and I would demand that they take immediate action 
to implement the use of paper ballots which are counted by hand in 
public to conduct the upcoming primary. I would notify them that you 
will take legal action as soon as possible to seek an injunction 
requiring that the election process comply with Article II or postponing 
the primaries until such time as they can be conducted in a 
Constitutional manner.

I suggest filing suit as soon as possible and making the argument based 
on South Carolina's Constitution first, but I would also include the 
arguments based on the U. S. Constitution. Also, I would include 
references to documented problems with the iVotronic machines.

As time is of the essence, I suggest that you take action immediately. I 
will be available for a conference if you like. I am distributing this 
email to the election integrity community. Of course, if you want to 
discuss this with me, I will maintain confidentiality regarding our 
discussion unless you authorize me to release your comments. I can be 
reached at 813-654-1235.

I look forward to hearing from you and helping with this landmark 
effort. If you seize it, then it will catapult you into the limelight on 
two issues which already have widespread support. Our government should 
abide by the Constitution, and our votes should be counted in public, 
not in secret.

Carpe diem,

Mark A. Adams JD/MBA

Link to South Carolina Constitution Article II Right of Suffrage
http://www.scstatehouse.net/scconstitution/a02.doc

My article "South Carolina Elections Are UNCONSTITUTIONAL!?!" published 
on OpEdNews.com
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_mark_a___080114_south_carolina_elect.htm

South Carolina State Election Commission
http://www.scvotes.org/about_the_sec

Zogby Poll on Electronic Voting -- 92% are concerned about secret vote 
counting http://www.zogby.com/templates/printnews.cfm?id=1163

Mark Adams speaks at the FCC Hearing in Tampa. This short video has a 
lot of information about my work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAni0WoI7LI
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