Montgomery County will be holding a “Work Session” on the Right to Vote Task Force on Monday October 13th at 2:00 pm in the Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Ave., 7th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850.  The date, time and exact location for this meeting are tentative, so if you can pencil this in for now, we will confirm everything on October 9th.

We need AS MANY Concerned Citizens to be at this meeting as possible.  We will be able to observe this meeting but not testify, but we can still make our presence felt! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!  WE NEED PEOPLE TO ATTEND THIS MEETING! The more the better.

FREE State of Maryland Online Poll Watcher Training Courses are now available to anyone, just in time for the upcoming 2014 Elections!  You can find out all the information about how to get involved at  http://conta.cc/1yz7gqi or by visiting www.electionintegritymaryland.com/poll-watching.

Election Integrity Maryland put out a press release today detailing their opposition to the recommendations set forth by the Montgomery County “Right to Vote Task Force” and urging people to go to the hearing where the Task Force’s Recommendations will be presented on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 7:30pm in the Council Hearing Room, 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850.  You can read the entire press release below:

Election Integrity Maryland Expresses Strong Opposition to Some Recommendations by the Montgomery County Council’s “Right to Vote Task Force” – Demands Halt to their Actions in Effort to Preserve Election Integrity and Uphold U.S. Constitution

The election integrity organization alerts public, state and federal officials to clear violations of the U.S. Constitution and electoral law in recommendations, invites all Concerned Citizens to attend a Hearing set for September 23, 2014 at 7:30 pm

ROCKVILLE, MD – September 17, 2014 – Election Integrity Maryland (EIM) announces today that it strongly objects to certain recommendations developed by the Montgomery County Council’s “Right to Vote Task Force” on June 4, 2014, that leave the door wide open to voter fraud, as well as present flagrant violations of federal and electoral laws, as well as the U.S. Constitution.

These recommendations present a perfect recipe for fraud, particularly the call to allow non-citizen voting, and online voter registration with no ID, in clear violation of The National Voter Registration Act of 1993, known as the “NVRA” and “Motor Vehicle Act” that allows citizens to maintain and manage their voter registration through the MVA. Further, it is the law in all 50 states that voter eligibility is limited to U.S. citizens only.

Convened as the County Council’s response to gather insights into the causes of low voter turnout numbers, the Task Force set to work to remedy the problem by proposing a host of methods, including enabling early voting, extending the voting time from 6 to 8 days, and even allowing same-day voter registration during early voting to be implemented in the 2016 election. However, even more disturbing than all of these, several of the Task Force’s other recommendations go even further to set the stage for large-scale fraud and violations of electoral process in a state that has already long been plagued with issues in this area, including documented recent cases of non-citizen and double voting that have yet to be prosecuted.

 Some key highlights of the Task Force’s recommendations include the following:

• Modifications to the current online voter registration system to allow individuals without IDs issued by the Motor Vehicle Administration to register to vote online by electronic signature;

• Revision to the existing laws to allow individuals without a driver’s license, state-issued ID, OR touchscreen/electronically captured signature to still receive a postcard to register to vote by mail. If this is not passed, the Task Force then suggests Maryland accept online registration information from applicants who will then complete their registration forms and submit them by mail;

• Requesting the State of Maryland to allow each county to determine its own public policy with respect to allowing non-citizens with permanent resident visas to vote in county elections – a very clear violation of the U.S. Constitution;

• Recommendations to encourage the Maryland General Assembly to pass an amendment to the state constitution to legalize Same-Day Election Registration, which presents clear and significant issues with verifying voter eligibility prior to allowing votes to be cast; and

• Ranked-Choice voting in county elections, which will complicate the voting process overall and present more opportunity for error and fraudulent activity;

• Re-districting for state and local elections, but not the U.S. Congress, which fails to address the significant existing gerrymandering issues; and

• Lowering the voting age in Maryland from 18 to 16 for county elections. This presents clear issues of judgment, maturity, and instances of candidates pandering to young voters and preying on their innocence to secure votes around popular issues of this age group’s concern, i.e. legalizing marijuana, lowering the drinking age, etc.

Additional information and a full list of the Task Force’s recommendations is available at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/Resources/Files/REPORTS/RightToVoteTaskForce/RightToVoteTaskForceReport.pdf

“It is essential that all Concerned Citizens rally around this issue and help us stop the “Right to Vote Task Force” from succeeding in the passage of these recommendations.” said Cathy Kelleher, President of Election Integrity Maryland. “Stopping this activity is crucial to preserving our legacy for free and fair elections, upholding state and federal laws, and most importantly, the U.S. Constitution! Please join with us to stop these flagrant invitations to voter fraud from becoming realities at the Hearing on September 23^rd!”

About Election Integrity Maryland (EIM)

Election Integrity Maryland (EIM) is a non-partisan, non-profit citizen initiative dedicated to upholding free and fair elections. A 501 (c)(4) organization, EIM exists to promote integrity throughout the voting process in Maryland, thereby enhancing the public’s confidence in its voting franchise in local, state and federal elections.EIM seeks to support the efforts of Maryland’s various Boards of Elections in their effort to maintain voter integrity, as well as the interests of Maryland voters. For more information about EIM, please visit: www.ElectionIntegrityMaryland.com

Election Integrity Maryland has been at the forefront of eliminating voter fraud.  Recently, they have recieved press in numerous publications regarding their efforts.  You can read all the recent articles featuring Election Integrity Maryland here.

Discoverthenetworks.org recently posted an article featuring a long list of all the organizations funded by George Soros and his Open Society Institute.  You can read the article for yourself here.

Below is the press release from Election Integrity Maryland, detailing their involvement inidentifying duplicate voters in the state of Maryland.

Letters from the Fairfax Electoral Board have been sent to county, state, and federal law enforcement offices requesting criminal investigations. With the exception of the Fairfax confirmation, the State Board of Election in both states have yet to report their respective due diligence actions.

ROCKVILLE, MD – August 26, 2014- In late May, the Virginia Voters Alliance (VVA) and Election Integrity Maryland (EIM) turned over a file to each of the State Boards of Elections containing both Virginia and Maryland data of people that appeared to be registered in both states.  The file contained 43,893 duplicate voters registered to vote in both states; an additional list identified 164 voters who apparently voted in both states during the 2012 Presidential election.

The Fairfax County Electoral Board asked for and was provided with a subset list of voters that reside in Fairfax County. VVA provided Fairfax County 10,696 duplicate registrations and identified 17 likely duplicate voters. The Fairfax Board aggressively investigated the 17 apparent duplicate voters and sought the cooperation of the Montgomery County Board of Elections. The investigation confirmed all 17 (identified by their full name, DOB and SSN), demonstrating the immense value of VVA and EIM’s volunteer work linked to cleansing voter registration records. In striking contrast to the Fairfax self-imposed initiative, the Maryland Board of Elections has yet to respond to the alert provided to them of the dual voters, nor have they communicated what it is doing or has done linked to its obligation to exercising due diligence to investigate, report, and prosecute evidence of illegal or fraudulent voting practices set forth in federal law and the voting procedures of the United States. This latest data underscores the continued calls for Maryland and Virginia to correct and update its current system to ensure flagrant dual registrations and other paths to fraudulent electoral behaviors are eliminated. When one considers that this joint endeavor by two states identified close to 44,000 dual registrations the full impact of our “mobile society” is certain to have a negative bearing on 48 other states.

By way of background, the VVA obtained the voter data for the SBE of Virginia and Maryland and the data was loaded onto a powerful server maintained by rVotes in Rhode Island. As of this press release, neither board has provided EIM or VVA with updates regarding the status of these parallel investigations.

The VVA group has been asked by several more counties in Virginia to help them in challenging their local boards in investigating duplicate registrations and voters in their county. VVA has also been asked by several states on the eastern seaboard to conduct additional private crosscheck investigations.

The Brennen Center will have to change their talking points … again.  A year or so ago they had to stop claiming that voter fraud did not exist because there were too many reported cases identified by voter integrity groups like the VVA and EIM and conservative media like Fox News and Watchdog-Virginia.

A common misconception is that voter fraud only occurs between Democrats and Republicans.  That is not true.  There is Republican-on-Republican voter fraud, as evidenced by what went on in Mississippi in the Cochran/McDaniel Senate primary race, as well as the slating of conservatives in Virginia.

Election Integrity Maryland will be addressing the MD State Board of Elections on July 10  to continue its call for re-evaluation of online voting implementation to preserve fair elections and ensure that the public’s voice is heard.  You can read the press release around this event below:

Maryland State Board of Elections Continues Attempts to Implement Online Ballot Delivery System, Despite Countless Warnings of Security, Fraud Vulnerability and Failure to Address Public’s Concerns

Election Integrity Maryland to Address the State Board of Elections on July 10  to Continue its Call for Re-Evaluation of Online Voting Implementation to Preserve Fair Elections, Ensure the Public’s Voice is Heard

Rockville, MD  – July 9, 2014 – Election Integrity Maryland (EIM), one of the Mid–Atlantic’s leading election integrity organizations, today re-affirms its concerns for the future of free and fair elections across Maryland, should the Online Ballot Delivery system be allowed to move forward.  EIM’s President, Cathy Kelleher, will address the State Board of Elections to continue to voice its opposition to the system, and urge the body to heed the best interest of the voting public, at its upcoming State Board Meeting, set for 2pm on July 10, 2014 in Annapolis, MD.

Over the past several months, Maryland’s Online Ballot Delivery System has come under the microscope for its alarmingly high vulnerability to large-scale error and fraud. EIM has continued to lead the charge for an in-depth review and rejection of Maryland’s overall online voting systems in a critical effort to preserve freedom and equality in the state’s electoral procedures. The organization’s efforts successfully blocked the vote to certify the online voting system at a Board Meeting held in April, 2014.

Significant concern for the safety and security of the state’s online voting systems has continued to be raised, however much of the data that has been uncovered around the functionality and testing of these systems and their vulnerabilities have been restricted to closed sessions and not made clear to the public.

Several independent Internet experts and University of Maryland law professor, Michael Greenberger, echo EIM’s continued urging for transparency and integrity in Maryland’s voting system. Greenberger has specifically pointed to the overall lack of authentication and oversight in online voting procedures, particularly in the request and delivery of absentee ballots. He has said, “experts say there is no way to know for certain that the person requesting the absentee ballot is the one filling it out and mailing it in…the identification system currently in place is not an effective way to authenticate a voter; in fact, it’s vulnerable to fraud.”  Greenberger instead advocates for a reversion to the ‘old-school’ hard-copy, brick and mortar process to cut down on potential for interception and fraud.

The State Board of Elections’ Deputy Election Administrator, Nikki Charlson, has also echoed these concerns that significant security vulnerabilities may exist in front end of the current system, the area ripest for fraudulent activity. Charlson was quoted in a recent article in The Maryland Reporter as saying, “We might not be able to prevent someone who has illegally obtained information [from entering the system].” Recent data compiled by EIM and the Virginia Voters Alliance confirmed 164 cases of duplicate voting between Virginia and Maryland in 2012, along with at least 44,000 individuals found to be registered concurrently in both states. These staggering findings, uncovered by a preliminary effort to simply ‘scratch the surface’ of this alarming issue, underscore the significant opportunity that currently exists largely as a result of the online voting systems, to commit fraud and exert negative impacts on the integrity of the states’ electoral processes which cannot be ignored.

At its next Board Meeting on July 10, 2014, the State Board of Elections will re-open the discussion on the certification of the Online Ballot Delivery system, in an effort to continue to push the initiative through for approval regardless of the fact that these very clear, factual issues and countless concern from independent experts still remain to be properly addressed. The Board of Elections is planning to use recent complaints filed by the National Federation of the Blind on behalf of a number of blind and disabled voters, who portend that their rights to vote privately and independently were obstructed, as rationale for approval of these flawed online voting systems.

This latest action highlights the Board of Elections’ continued failure to address and correct what have been found to be significant, measurable flaws in the current system that carry serious ramifications for the public’s electoral freedoms. Efforts by the Board of Elections to use these latest complaints by disabled voters to use potential ADA violation legislation as an engine to push the online voting system through ignores a number of key facts, however, that the state has issued to continually promote accessibility and equality in its voting procedures. Early voting, along with additional handicapped-accessible polling locations and extended time periods to cast votes were passed by Maryland’s General Assembly in 2014 to make it easier for disabled voters to get to the polls and ensure the presence of their voice in the state’s electoral processes.

Clearly  then, this legislation is far from sufficient rationale to necessitate a passage of online voting systems that represent flagrant security concerns and vulnerabilities that actually serve to obstruct the public’s voting freedoms, instead of expand them.

“Casting a vote is every U.S. citizen’s legal right and privilege,” EIM’s President, Cathy Kelleher states. “It is essential now more than ever that we take a hard look at the security of our voting systems, as inviting fraud into our electoral processes has the potential to exert significant and intensely damaging effects on our election outcomes, as well as the voting public’s confidence in the availability of a free and fair electoral system that is essential to our rights as Americans. I will be present at the Board Meeting on July 10 to fight for free and fair elections and to continue to ensure that the public’s voice is heard.”

Election Integrity Maryland is available for immediate comment to expand on these issues and related activities affecting integrity in the electoral process.

About Election Integrity Maryland (EIM)

Election Integrity Maryland (EIM) is a non-partisan, non-profit citizen initiative dedicated to upholding free and fair elections. A 501 (c)(4) organization, EIM exists to promote integrity throughout the voting process in Maryland, thereby enhancing the public’s confidence in its voting franchise in local, state and federal elections. EIM seeks to support the efforts of Maryland’s various Boards of Elections in their effort to maintain voter integrity, as well as the interests of Maryland voters. For more information about EIM, please visit: www.ElectionIntegrityMaryland.com

Members of Congress are currently trying to sneak a bill through that couldultimately turn elections over to Eric Holder and Barack Obama.  Below is the letter from Catherine Engelbrecht at True the Vote talking all about this bill.  Please take a look:

HR 3899 also targets five states that will immediately be put under the authority of Holder’s Dept of Justice, requiring that they pre-clear election activities with Holder’s DOJ, effective immediately upon passage of the bill! The currently targeted states are Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and North Carolina. The Bill also gives Eric Holder the exclusive right to target other states for any reason he sees fit, including the passage and implementation of photo Voter ID laws.

This Country has gone through too much and come too far to now watch silently as the professional race baiters in Congress, like Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Sheila Jackson Lee, divide voters into color blocks for partisan gain.

Will you please help support True the Vote’s effort to kill this terrible race based bill?

Earlier this week True the Vote led a group of pro-liberty election integrity organizations in requesting GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to meet with our organizations to discuss the reasons this bill is an ill advised move toward race-based segregation. Last night, Cantor’s constituents let him know what they thought of his position on HR 3899- by voting him out of office. But make no mistake, the battle for HR 3899 is far from won.

True the Vote will keep fighting to defend free and fair elections – but we need your support to do it.  Please help us by making your tax deductible donation right now.  

Thank you, again and as always, for your willingness to take a stand for election integrity.  Working together, we really can true the vote.

Onward,

Catherine Engelbrecht

Founder and Chairwoman, True the Vote

On Thursday April 24th, the Maryland State Board of Elections will be holding a meeting during which they will potentially be approving online voting for Presidential Elections.  The press release regarding this is included below, as is an agenda for Thursday’s meeting:

Maryland State Board of Elections Set to Approve Online Voting in Thursday’s State Board of Elections Meeting

System Ripe for Fraud, Experts Warn — Election Integrity Maryland Calls for Immediate Re-Evaluation of Online Voting Implementation to Preserve Honest Elections

Rockville, MD  – April 22, 2014 – Election Integrity Maryland (EIM),one of the Mid–Atlantic’s leading election integrity organizations (empowered by True the Vote), announces today that it has urged the Maryland Board of Elections to re-evaluate its stance on online voting procedures and systems in wake of its upcoming State Board Meeting, set for 2pm on April 24, 2014 in Annapolis, MD. At this meeting, the body is set to certify its current Online Ballot Delivery System, which has high potential to open the state’s electoral processes to large-scale error and fraud. Stemming from significant concern from technical and political experts as to the vulnerability of the current system, Election Integrity Maryland calls for an urgent rejection of the vote to certify the Online Ballot Delivery System and subsequent review of its overall online voting systems in a critical effort to preserve freedom and equality in the state’s electoral procedures.

In a recent letter to Linda Lamone, State Administrator of the Maryland Board of Elections, Election Integrity Maryland cites several concerns related to the high potential for fraud and inaccuracy in the current “same day registration and voting” system. Chief concerns, such as non-citizens reporting for jury duty, double voting, and deceased voters consistently appearing on the rolls, as well as potential for fraudulent activity, would be amplified by the state’s online voting processes. Recently, two historically-liberal states, Oregon and Washington, successfully voted to block the passage of similar legislation that would enable online voting capabilities and open the states’ electoral systems to large-scale error and fraud. Oregon was also supported in its fight by the League of Women Voters. The testimony collected in these efforts was also delivered to the Maryland Board of Elections for review and consideration prior to Thursday’s meeting and vote.

Maryland has been challenged in the past by voting experts as a result of the significant shortcomings of its current online voting system. In fact, a nationwide, independent panel of experts even went so far as to name it among the ‘most vulnerable’ of all the state systems, and one of the most open to large-scale, automated fraud.

Comprised of David Jefferson, computer scientist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, J. Alex Halderman, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, and Barbara Simons, a retired IBM computer scientist and an expert on electronic voting, the panel also advised the State of Maryland “…to take immediate defensive steps to safeguard the online voter registration system or else shut down the system.”

Further expert testimony to support the current call to halt the certification of the Online Ballot Delivery System at vote this week can be found from Michael Greenberger, a law professor at the University of Maryland. In a recent article published in The Baltimore Sun, Greenberger said of the current lack of authentication and oversight in online voting procedures, “Experts say there is no way to know for certain that the person requesting the absentee ballot is the one filling it out and mailing it in…the identification system currently in place is not an effective way to authenticate a voter; in fact, it’s vulnerable to fraud.”  Greenberger instead advocates for a reversion to the ‘old-school’ hard-copy, brick and mortar process to cut down on potential for interception and fraud.

Recent data compiled by Election Integrity Maryland’s counterparts in both Oregon and California also supports the truth behind these claims. In Oregon, a host of credentialed experts identified numerous reasons why online voting is highly susceptible to a variety of system integrity problems, thus inviting nefarious actions. In California, an audit of current online voter registration systems revealed that 6,080 individuals duplicated their voter registrations, and these duplicates actually remained on the rolls through the 2012 election and through summer-fall of 2013. 113 of the 6,080 suspected duplicates also appear to have voted twice in the 2012 Presidential Election. Almost half of these voters were college-age (18-24).

Elections are typically won or lost by extremely close margins, and glaring errors such as these thus become critically important to national outcomes.

“We strongly urge the Maryland Board of Elections take these significant concerns into account and halt the certification of its Online Ballot Delivery System at this Thursday’s election,” EIM’s President, Cathy Kelleher states. “The current online voting system errors must be re-evaluated and restructured, and such actions are vital to ensuring the future accuracy and freedom of our state’s electoral processes and outcomes. These efforts remain at the epicenter of our continued crusade to ensure free and fair elections in the state of Maryland and across the country.”

Election Integrity Maryland is available for immediate comment to expand on these issues and related activities affecting integrity in the electoral process.

The Agenda for the upcoming state vote at 2pm on April 24, 2014 follows. Please note the meeting is open to the public, however request to speak must be submitted prior and approved no later than 5pm EST on April 23, 2014. To request permission to speak or for other agenda-related questions, please contact Nikki Charlson at 410‐269‐2843 or by email nikki.charlson@maryland.gov.

About Election Integrity Maryland (EIM)

Election Integrity Maryland (EIM) is a non-partisan, non-profit citizen initiative dedicated to upholding free and fair elections. A 501 (c)(4) organization, EIM exists to promote integrity throughout the voting process in Maryland, thereby enhancing the public’s confidence in its voting franchise in local, state and federal elections. EIM seeks to support the efforts of Maryland’s various Boards of Elections in their effort to maintain voter integrity, as well as the interests of Maryland voters. For more information about EIM, please visit: www.ElectionIntegrityMaryland.com

Agenda

State Board Meeting

April 24, 2014 – 2:00 pm

151 West Street, Suite 200

Annapolis, Maryland 21401

1. Declaration of Quorum Present

2. Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes

3. Additions to the Agenda

4. Administrator’s Report

5. Assistant Attorney General’s Report

6. Ratification of Precinct Boundary Changes

7. Approval of Proposed Regulations

8. Approval of Campaign Finance Waiver Requests

9. Online Ballot Delivery System – Certification

10. Old Business

11. New Business

12. Disclosure of Campaign Contributions

13. Confirm Next Meeting Date & State Certification of Primary Election

14. Closed Session

15. Adjournment

Closed Meeting:  Part of the meeting may be closed in accordance with Open Meetings Act procedures.

Public Participation:  Members of the public may address the Board on any item on this agenda.  Pursuant to §3.2B of the Board’s bylaws, public participation at a meeting must be pre‐scheduled and pre‐approved by the Chairman. To request approval to speak at a board meeting, contact Nikki Charlson at 410‐269‐2843 or by email nikki.charlson@maryland.gov no later than 5 pm the day before the meeting.

A news item recently came out about Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings using the IRS to target political groups he doesn’t like.  This story was recently covered by Megan Kelly on FoxNews, and you can see the video on the story below: