For whatever reason, but we're not sure why?

wink, wink, nudge, nudge - Know what I mean, eh, know what I mean?

Thanks once again to the Memphis Flyer for your efforts to tether Tre Hargett to the reality-based world. Throughout this legislative session, Master Tre told us that implementing the TN Voter Confidence Act (TVCA) would be too expensive in these tight economic times. To support this argument, he and his flying monkey sidekick, State Election Coordinator Mark Goins, trotted out estimates of “extra costs” for implementing the TVCA that were solicited by their office from city and county officials across the state, estimates that totaled $11.7 million.

The problem with those "estimates" -- they lack even basic truthiness.

In order to believe Master Tre's argument that the TVCA will cost $11.7 million “extra” to implement, you must also believe that:

— It will cost $434,572 “extra” statewide to service and maintain 70% fewer voting machines.
— It will cost $211,640 “extra” statewide to deliver 70% fewer voting machines.
— It will cost $342,144 “extra” to conduct the routine pre-election training session for poll workers.

In addition to having to believe these bogus statewide “extra costs” estimates, you must also believe that:

— It will cost Smith, Hawkins, Dyer and Tipton counties $50/ballot to audit a few hundred ballots in a single precinct. (In Nevada and Missouri, the real audit costs are closer to a nickel per ballot).
— It will cost Wayne and Sumner counties more than $20,000 “extra” to deliver 70% fewer machines.
— It will cost Putnam and Cannon counties over $700 apiece for privacy screens (when Haywood, Meigs and Blount counties can get privacy screens for under $20 apiece).
— It will cost Williamson, Blount and Putnam counties over $2,800 apiece for security containers (when Haywood and Johnson counties can obtain security containers for $25 apiece).
— It will cost Williamson county $38,739 “extra” to conduct a single poll-worker training session. (I presume, at that cost, that Williamson county will be flying their precinct officials to the Cayman Islands for the training.)
— It will cost Campbell county $70,000 “extra” to store ballots that would not fill up one filing cabinet.
— It will cost Shelby county $4.1 million “extra” to implement the TVCA when Shelby county has never spent that much money for its total annual election-related expenses in its history.

If you’re weary of this “extra cost” fantasy, join the crowd. Here’s the truth: Implementing the TVCA will be cheaper than continuing to vote on the non-verifiable DREs we wasted over $30 million to purchase -- voting machines that now have a resale value of $0 (because no other democracy on the planet is fool-hardy enough to want them).

That is because multi-year studies in North Carolina, Maryland and Florida have proven that voting with paper ballots (counted by optical scan machines) is 30-40% cheaper than voting on DREs, primarily because of the reduction in programming, software, maintenance, storage and transportation costs that is achieved when we are able to reduce our voting equipment needs by 70%. Fewer voting machines = real cost savings.

In the Senate Finance committee hearing on delaying democracy earlier this year, legislative staff admitted that they did not take these cost savings into account when they produced the “Fiscal Impact” estimate for implementing the TVCA. (From the information above, it is also clear that no one bothered even to look at the farcical “extra cost” numbers submitted by some counties.) If we take the most recent annual election-related costs submitted by counties to the Comptroller’s office, this real cost savings to our counties by implementing the TVCA will be between $10.7 - $14.2 million per year. (This is a conservative estimate because it is based on the annual election-related costs of only 89 Tennessee counties that submitted information to the Comptroller’s office.) These are real savings. During these tight economic times, Master Tre could help counties the most by moving forward to implement the TVCA now. If, that is, Master Tre was really interested in protecting anything in Tennessee other than what is increasingly looking like a major component of the TN/GOP's "base" -- unverifiable voting machines.

Honest elections should be a nonpartisan issue. In my small middle Tennessee community, they are. Every Republican friend of mine wants our elections to be conducted on a level playing field. My Republican neighbors are as concerned as the rest of us that our votes be counted as they were cast -- that honest and accurate measurements of the consent of the governed continue to be the strong foundation on which our governments are maintained. My Republican buddies do not fear honest elections, because they know that, without them, we have no way to hold our officials accountable and our ship-of-state afloat.

But then Master Tre and his fawning flying monkeys are no friends and neighbors of mine. All my Republican friends have balls (including the female ones).

Implementing the TVCA now will save TN counties money and it will help rescue our democracy.
Keep the TVCA intact and on-track for 2010.

Excellent post, Bernie.

Thanks, Jeff, and I do hope others who are following this issue will chime in here. Once again, I appreciate the Memphis Flyer for staying on top of the most important story in Tennessee, right now or any other time. You know, the story about eternal vigilance being the price of liberty, or some similar terroristic notion.

It is amazing to me that, here we are well into the 21st century, and it appears we have completely forgotten the lessons of history, from the time of our birth as a nation to and through the birthing of freedom in hundreds of nations across the globe that were born (and borne) from our image.

As Americans, we really discovered, in democracy, a good way to run things -- simple and direct and as diffuse in its political power as the number of citizens whose consent keeps everything afloat. If it's worked for the past 200+ years, why risk it now -- or at any other time? The consent of the governed is required for our system to function (to flourish). Without it, we are slaves.

It is amazing to me that I have to say these things, or that millions of other Tennesseans have to fear these things, without all sides of every political persuasion rising up en masse in this state to ask Master Tre Hargett:

"Just what part of 'the consent of the governed' do you not understand?"

"Just which words in Ronald Reagan's doctrine: 'trust ... but verify': made no sense to you?"

If we had someone who could actually be a leading public official in this state, instead of play-acting a poor imitation of one, we could have put this issue behind us a year ago, it could have been over and done with. We never should have bought DREs -- no one will get an argument from me on that score -- but we sure as shooting should not run another election on them. Not one more.

Not one more.

We agreed – almost to a person – in both houses of our legislature that the TVCA reforms were necessary, were absolutely necessary, to protect and defend our democracy. Why now is "absolutely necessary" no longer a sufficient reason to insure the integrity of our 2010 election by keeping the TVCA intact and on-track? A good question, don't you think?

Anyone and anything that interferes with the rightful measurement of the consent of the governed in Tennessee, starting in 2010 with the full and complete implementation of the TVCA, is enabling election fraud. With each passing day and week, they are also confirming (indirectly) that past election fraud using these unverifiable voting machines may already have occurred, on a scale we can never know. Otherwise, why continue to fight so hard -- so brazenly -- when reality, good sense, a strong bipartisan history of support and some small modicum of proprietary about what honest elections require are all -- all of them -- quaint notions that are way back in the rear-view mirror of this discussion?

You know, I could stand up on the tallest soap-box on Beale Street this Saturday night and proclaim to anyone and everyone that legislative seats were stolen by manipulating the unverifiable voting machines in the 2008 elections in Tennessee. I could do that all night long. But I would be doing that without any proof (or not much.)

Tre Hargett could be carried to a soap-box of equal size (heck, I don't even mind if Master Tre's soap-box was taller), also this Saturday night and also on Beale Street. Once perched there, Tre could loudly proclaim that every single seat in the 2008 legislative election cycle was won fair-and-square, from one end of this state to the other -- every single one of them. But, just like me, Master Tre would be doing that without any proof either.

Thus, both of us would be proof-less in our soap-box positions on that fictional Saturday night on Beale Street. Nearby though, back here in the real world, only one of us (me and, to be sure, millions of other voters in Tennessee) want to change that nightmare situation. Almost all of us want elections whose votes can be counted and re-counted as many times as it TAKES to get it right. That is what paper ballots do -- they capture our sacred contract as individual citizens and, in so doing, they measure the collective consent of the governed as clearly and demonstrably as is possible so that both winners AND losers in our fair state can trust the result.

The other one of us, perched high on his soap-box, wants our state to keep voting on machines that are incapable of being examined. Expensive machines. Slow machines. Machines that are provided, serviced and trouble-shot by proprietary companies who don't even allow our election officials -- much less the voters -- to examine the machines' secret software. Machines that print out numbers at the end of long election days that might as well all include this warning (after whatever numeric "result" is reported): "Trust Us. You Have No Recourse."

Well, yes we do have a recourse. And that is to demand that our state be led by a Secretary of State who can and will do the job he has been entrusted with. Tre may indeed be able to get ‘er done by hisself, he may have the "want to" buried somewhere deep inside him. But if, for any reason, our legislators determine otherwise -- for no lack of evidence -- that Tre lacks the ability, the patriotic predilection or the "tools" it takes to defend our democracy and its time-tested ways, then they need to invite Master Tre Hargett to just move along.

At a minimum, it is also long past time for every other Tennessean who is tired of this bald-faced fantasy that poses for "doing government work" these days to tell her or his state Senator -- right now -- to come to their senses and cut loose this failed attempt by Tre Hargett to delay democracy, to capsize, perhaps forever, our ship of state. It is indefensible, no matter where on the political spectrum any of our legislators sit or stand at this moment. If they believe in a level playing field, they will honor and protect our cherished traditions and demand the same devotion to duty from others who now cash our government paychecks in Nashville.

To repeat: I don't care where anyone sits -- or stands -- on the political spectrum. If you believe in, and you will defend, the bedrock necessity for honest elections in this country, then I know that we share a big part of what it takes to call each other Americans.

This dead-ender effort to delay democracy by tampering with the TVCA is no longer about right and left -- it is about right and wrong. But then, it always has been.

Keep the TVCA intact and on-track for 2010. Anything else belittles us, as a state and as a nation.

The only year that the TVCA is "on-track" for is 1810. When our school buildings are crumbling and bridges are falling down - why on earth do we need to buy new voting machines when the "old" ones are only three years old???

Hopefully the legislature will repeal this ridiculous act at the beginning of the session next year and stop this Voting-machine-mania where we replace our machines every ten minutes.

I will concede that having closed-source machines is not ideal - but I will remind my Democratic friends that the voting machines that we use now were approved and purchased by Democratic officials. If Democrats purchased machines that are so prone to fraud...maybe we should ask and investigate these election officials to come clean about why they bought them.

In fact, officials with both parties are convinced that the DRE machines we use now work well and have strong procedures in place to prevent any sort of fraud occuring with the machines. Most people in Shelby County are perfectly happy with the voting machines that we use and we haven't had any machine problems since when we used PAPER BALLOTS in the 1970's.

The activists who are promoting paper ballots are - hopefully unintentionally - enabling voter fraud by making it much easier to commit. They claim that someone might be able to 'hack' the DRE's with an Engineer, a powerful laptop, some power tools, and hours alone with a machine.

A paper ballot can be hacked with a #2 pencil.

Don (whoever you are -- why do election fraud enablers here on the Memphis Flyer blog -- all two of you -- lack the "equipment" to post your real names?)

If you weren't so off-the-charts stupid and self-serving with your comments, we wouldn't be detecting any brain activity at all from your side. Marching in such lock-step may make you feel like there are many of you who condole and enable disrespect for the consent of the governed. Believe me, as this forum demonstrates, thee are not.

I don't have much time anymore for anyone who hides here and elsewhere on this issue that is vital to the survival of our state and nation. So, even though I know going into this that I am conversing with a common sense-deprived lizard brain, I've just (really) enjoyed "Avatar" and know that even that is possible. I'm going to give your nonsense about ten minutes of my time here this morning. But I am more than happy to converse with anyone who has a real name. My email address is tracevu@bellsouth.net Operators are standing by.

(Your comments are in quotes below. My responses aren't.)

"The only year that the TVCA is "on-track" for is 1810. When our school buildings are crumbling and bridges are falling down - why on earth do we need to buy new voting machines when the "old" ones are only three years old???"

Short answer, pal. You don't. The federal money to correct our mistake is (and has been) sitting in the Secretary of State's bank account, drawing interest. Implementing the TVCA will not only be accomplished without our counties having to pay for any new hardware themselves, but the smaller number of machines (around 70-80% fewer machines) will return a 30-40% saving to counties in annual election-related expenses. Don't take our word for it, oh anonymous one. Other states (North Carolina, Florida, Maryland, others) have done the studies and have confirmed the savings of going to a TVCA-mandated voting system (paper ballots, optical scan, mandatory random manual audits) over continuing with the slow, expensive and unverifiable DRE- dependent system.

"Hopefully the legislature will repeal this ridiculous act at the beginning of the session next year and stop this Voting-machine-mania where we replace our machines every ten minutes."

This "ridiculous act" passed in 2007 with only three legislators – THREE LEGISLATORS TOTAL – in either house voting against it. This level of bipartisanship is almost unheard of in our legislature. When all but three Republicans voted for the TVCA in 2007, tell me, Don, were they wrong then? Or are you (and your few dead-enders) wrong now?

Good question, if I say so myself.

"I will concede that having closed-source machines is not ideal - but I will remind my Democratic friends that the voting machines that we use now were approved and purchased by Democratic officials. If Democrats purchased machines that are so prone to fraud...maybe we should ask and investigate these election officials to come clean about why they bought them."

Thanks for acknowledging the problems with closed-source (secret) software for counting OUR VOTES. Any fourth grader these days could explain how stupid that is. But we (and you) don't have to rely on fourth graders (who may still pledge allegiance to begin their day somewhere in this state, as many of my days began in the ‘50s in Mississippi and Tennessee schools.) We have scientists from Princeton, Rice, Carnegie-Mellon, University of California, on and on and on (... and on) screaming to the tops of their lungs, informed by their well-developed brains, that DRE voting -- as it is now being practiced -- is idiotic.

Fortune magazine called DRE voting the "worst new technology" of 2003, yet I agree with you that information of that sort didn't seem to get to Tennessee election administrators and others in the run-up to the purchase of these unverifiable "black boxes" in early 2006. I could not agree with you more that a thorough and far-reaching investigation of the forces which led to this lemming-like march to tamper-prone technology in Tennessee is long-overdue. Don, if you want to come and visit, I'd be happy to place a call to the US Department of Justice to request that investigation, if you'd like. The depth and breadth of corrupt practices that led to our $30 million mistake in 2006 might just make "Tennessee Waltz" look like what it may indeed have been (a small distraction).

"In fact, officials with both parties are convinced that the DRE machines we use now work well and have strong procedures in place to prevent any sort of fraud occuring (sic) with the machines."

No one (outside an increasingly depopulated bubble where you and other flying monkeys live) would try to argue that the unverifiable equipment we have now is acceptable. Once again, only three legislators in 2007 were left with that position after we as a state devoted more than two years to studying the issue. You and the other flying monkeys are entitled to your own opinions – but you are not entitled to your own facts.

When our legislature (and TACIR and Common Cause and the League of Women Voters and most other civic organizations who looked at the issue) all came to an agreement – to support and implement the TVCA -- a very good bill was passed and signed into law. Remember, our group fought up to the end to implement the TVCA in 2008. Maybe if we had, we wouldn't be having this conversation today, IMHO.

There are no procedures in place to detect and prevent the many election fraud-enabling ways to "hack" this equipment, some of which might indeed come as part of the installed software that someone has paid for as an "extra" but much of which can be introduced fairly easily and quickly (say, in 10 seconds) by persons with access to as few as one of the DREs.

Yes, there are viruses that can be uploaded into just one of these machines that will travel "upstream" as votes are tabulated and corrupt the entire central tabulator process at the county level. We know about and have read the serious and scholarly works that have been done to demonstrate the ease of hacking this equipment. Why do we know this work ... and you monkeys do not?

"Most people in Shelby County are perfectly happy with the voting machines that we use and we haven't had any machine problems since when we used PAPER BALLOTS in the 1970's."

Most people in Shelby county love America and want to be able to trust – without question – the process by which the consent of the governed is measured there, and everywhere in our state. You and your few dead-enders are not "most people". It is increasingly clear to the rest of us who you are.

Most people in Shelby county would describe your behavior as un-American, in seeking to postpone or repeal the TVCA and, by so doing, to perpetuate and maintain the worst mistake we've ever made with the foundation of our country by counting our votes in unverifiable "black boxes." You might actually get out and speak with most Shelby county voters, who want their votes to be counted as they are cast. You might also read up on the three lawsuits so far (at least) that have been launched in your county about potential and real problems with the usage of this equipment since 2006.

In short, Don, you should get a real clue before you speak for "most Shelby county" people. From where I sit, a lot of them are saying out-loud these days, "What do you mean ‘we', paleface?"

"The activists who are promoting paper ballots are - hopefully unintentionally - enabling voter fraud by making it much easier to commit. They claim that someone might be able to 'hack' the DRE's with an Engineer, a powerful laptop, some power tools, and hours alone with a machine."

See above, Don.
Ten seconds, Don.
One machine, Don.
Installed "Special Feature" from the red-tinged factory
that no one has the right to find, Don.

Clues, Don. Pick one.

"A paper ballot can be hacked with a #2 pencil."

A #2 pencil has lots of handy uses. Saving our democracy in the voting booth is just one of them. But it is the most important. Thousands of votes (millions of votes) can be flipped on secret software, Don, with a few key-strokes in the code. That would take a whole lot of flying monkeys a whole lot of time to replicate on paper ballots.

I don't think even you dead-enders have enough money to pay for all those bananas.

Keep the TVCA intact and on-track for 2010.

There, I gave you 15 minutes, Don. Have you found a clue yet?

Obviously there might be legitimate concerns about funding for new machines, however we MUST have paper ballots! The democratic process is too critical to a free society to have integrity sacrificed in exchange for expediency which is what exists with our current unsecured digital voting systems.




-Matt Collins
(Former) Vice Chair Davidson County / Nashville Republican Party
Vice Chair Republican Liberty Caucus of Tennessee
Coordinator Davidson County Campaign for Liberty
Member America's Future Foundation
Member Tennessee Liberty Alliance
Member Liberty on the Rocks

Thanks, Matt, for your comments. Your voice on this issue has always been appreciated by most Tennesseans who, regardless of political persuasion, know that our votes must be counted as they are cast if we are to maintain -- if we are to save -- our country.

I was very sorry to hear that the Davidson County Republican Party recently removed you as their Vice-Chair. Tell me, to what extent did your support for honest elections (and the TVCA) contribute to that action? From here, it appears to have been a major factor in the minds (sic) of the flying monkeys who removed you.

Thank you for your service to the consent of the governed. You are a true American. I continue to believe that you speak for many other Republicans who (hopefully) will regain their own patriotic voices (and spines) for Christmas. Take care. If we never stop fighting (for honest elections), we will not lose.