[CAVO] Response to David Jefferson / EVN letter

Fri Aug 11 19:47:44 UTC 2017

To all recipients of the recent Election Verification Network /David
Jefferson letter:
>
>
>
> I write this letter of response on the day before Independence Day 2017.
>
>
>
> Sources recently relayed an e-mail written about myself and following
> events authored by one David Jefferson.  David Jefferson (not the wrestler
> found in Wikipedia) is a Silicon Valley businessman (see-Dec Compaq- HP)
> Jefferson is on the board at the California Voter Foundation and Verified
> Voting Foundation.
>
>
>
> For those of you not familiar with EVN (Election Verification Network), it
> is a fairly new organization of people associated with voting systems. EVN
> has various participants from Microsoft to Verified Voting and others who
> have working knowledge of elections. David Dill from Verified Voting has
> been active in assembling a network of like minded folks reflected here-
> http://cavo-us.org/matrix.pdf   Two notable participants in the EVN group
> are Dill's Stanford peer Nate Persily as well as Mitch Kapor (Lotus
> Industries/ OSET )
>
>
>
> The dire state of U.S. election system security forces my response here.It
> is my position that the current national security crisis could have been
> avoided by the appropriate implementation of open source / paper ballot
> election systems.   In the letter, Jefferson mentions a grant (coined
> ACCURATE by Dr, Rebecca Mercuri) that was given by the National Science
> Foundation in 2005. Though Jefferson denies the facts of this event, the
> truth remains that the Government Accountability Office directed Alan
> Dechert/Open Voting Consortium as the technology transfer partner. OVC and
> Dechert were pioneering open source software for election systems.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/business/technolo
> gy-briefing-software-voting-software-to-be-demonstrated.html
>
>
>
> Upon reception of the 7.5 million dollar grant, thee ACCURATE group ceased
> communication with Dechert thereby omitting open source from the efforts.  *http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf
> <http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf>* [1]
>
>
>
> Furthermore, though Jefferson's letter purports confusion, Dr.Mercuri was
> similarly excluded from the ACCURATE effort though her work was utilized
> and the name she created for the group used. http://www.notablesoftwa
> re.com/ACCURATE/ACCURATE.html
>
>
>
> These events are the road map to the answer to the question " Why do we
> have insecure election systems in the United States ? "  The "blocking" of
> open source and proper architecture occurred in 2005 within the ACCURATE
> event
>
>
>
> Also in the letter Jefferson mentions a "conspiracy" to create fear,
> uncertainty and doubt regarding open source software. We note Microsoft's
> participation in EVN and simply refer interested parties to research this
> point. We have reached out to Microsoft directly and spoken with their open
> source department regarding the possibility of their lobbyists "standing
> down" regarding open source legislation etc to no avail.
> http://openvoting.org/ad/242-opposition.pdf
>
>
>
> Jefferson seems concerned about my activism on the point of open source
> elections. He is certainly correct that I do not have, nor have I professed
> to have, a background in technology. I am merely a "do-gooder" who became
> interested in the United States election systems around 2000. I am
> currently Secretary for California Association of Voting Officials
> www.cavo-us.org
>
>
>
> I have noted the efforts of the proprietary / intellectual property
> community to preserve the status quo of election systems. The vendors are
> too close to the government and the administrators. Groups like California
> Association of Election Officials (CACEO) host events that supply freebies
> to the officials while taking monies from the vendors. CACEO lobbyists also
> represent Microsoft. This is not acceptable. We must recognize that in
> order to have appropriate election system security we must disallow
> Microsoft's governmental lock out of open source
>
>
>
> When President Obama requested information for his Presidential Commission
> on Election Administration we submitted our open source voting directly to
> EVN's Nate Persily. This information was acknowledged as received but
> then omitted from the information submitted to President Obama.it is this
> sort of circumstance that motivates our attention.
>
>
>
> As the pioneers of open source election systems, we approached Los Angeles
> County many years ago to educate them and spark an open source voting
> project. This eventually happened, but without our directions being
> followed. As the PEW institute ( David Becker, Jared Marcotte ) took over
> the software development, the project has failed to announce itself as our
> prescribed General Public License open source and appears to be off track.
> Here L.A.'s Dean Logan speaks regarding his intent to "leverage" public
> funds. @7:26 Logan says, "We are looking to leverage that."
>
> https://www.pscp.tv/navo_brent/1BdxYvVmwdyKX
>
>
>
> We note that Mitch Kapor's OSET ( formerly OSDV ) company is another EVN
> member and that they have confused the open source election software issue
> by "open-washing " toward a nuanced "Open Public" license rather than
> utilizing our prescribed GPL. This is currently causing confusion on
> Capitol Hill as people assume OSET to be OVC / CAVO due to OSET's search
> engine optimization strategy and extremely well funded outreach campaign.
>
>
>
> There is much more to mention but for the sake of brevity I will capsulize
> by stating I appreciate Jefferson's emotional e-mail. It did give me
> opportunity and incentive to highlight a few points that have been clouded
> by those seeking to revise history.
>
>
>
> I am available to anyone wishing further detail. We must move quickly to
> overcome corporate interests and secure the election systems with open
> source software /paper ballot systems.  Here's a cute video if you need an
> easily digestible example for your fellow citizens- https://www.youtube.
> com/watch?v=au3w1Kyztg8&feature=youtu.be
>
>
>
> HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!
>
>
>
> Brent Turner
>
> cell 619-990-7625 <(619)%20990-7625>
>
>
>
> cc'd:
>
> Alec Bash
>
> Bob Nash
>
> Micheal Chertoff
>
> Jeh Johnson
>
> Mitch Kapor
>
> Tim Sbranti
>
> Ruben Major
>
> Bradley Bottoms
>
> Alex Halderman
>
> Alex Walker
>
> Chis Jerdonek
>
> Christine Pelosi
>
> Brigette Hunley \
>
> Carolyn Fowler
>
> Sean Elsbernd
>
> Kevin Mullin
>
> Peter Nuemann
>
> Laurel Brodzinsky
>
> Timothy B. Mayer
>
> Peter Arzberger
>
> Philip Rucker
>
> Laura Velkei
>
> Kim Alexander
>
> Patrick Masson
>
> Peter Arzberger
>
> Matt Bishop
>
> Nate Persily
>
> Ron Rivest
>
> Philip Stark
>
> Alex Padilla
>


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