Registrar continues to fail the test of quality elections

The following are excerpts from a report dated February 4, 2008 by Tom Courbat of Save-R-Vote, a voter integrity group that has been actively monitoring the lack of security and lack of integrity of voting in Riverside County for two years.

"The degree of willingness of a government to open itself up to public scrutiny and public audit foretells the quality and integrity of that government."

That yellow button on Sequoia machines allows anyone to access manual mode and then they can repeatedly cast as many votes as they want. Still no locking seal on the cap that covers the yellow button. A three cent locking seal would either prevent anyone from activating the yellow button or show evidence of tampering. There are still 720 DRE units out in the precincts, with 720 locations where a voter can cast multiple votes. What is the price of security?

When will the full-blown security audit of the Registrar of Voters office be initiated, as recommended numerous times by SAVE R VOTE ? Even the Board of Supervisor’s own Blue Ribbon Committee on July 17, 2007 recommended "Consider hiring a consultant to review the Registrar of Voters security procedures."

On February 4, 2008 - An electronic voting machine sits unguarded, transportable, alongside a counter in the reception area of a local church the night before the election. The Board of Supervisors was informed by SAVE R VOTE. The continuous and flagrant lack of security of voting machines provides numerous opportunities for loss by theft or for insertion of viruses that can rig an election.

Watch for counts to be "slow". Registrars of Voters generally have nearly unlimited budgets to hire temporary workers during and after elections. If the absentee ballot counting effort has only a few workers assigned to the task, ask your Registrar of Voters "why"? There can only be one reason – to prove their claim that without e-voting machines everything would take WAY longer.

Lock-step Presidential Candidates

On the topic of embryonic stem-cell research, all of the Pro-Life candidates cite one reason for being against it. They claim it is the taking of human life. There are many reasons why a fiscally conservative Republican would not vote to use tax dollars to fund such research yet only "the taking of human life" is claimed as their excuse. Is this a well thought out reason or are they just pandering for votes or in lock-step with a Party agenda? Whether you are for or against abortion later in pregnancy this embryonic stage in a petri dish should make you think a bit before you decide about the intellecual thought these candidates use to make decisions or about their honesty with voters. Romney for example, claims he changed his position on abortion after he witnessed racks of petri dishes in a laboratory. Prior to that he must have considered himself a compassionate conservative as he tells the story of being Pro-choice because of a family member who died because legal abortion was not available in her time of crisis. No one actually knows when life begins. Surely, if you are of the belief that there is a divine creator, given the very complex design of all life, then the fallopian tube, which cannot sustain the life of an embryo would not be the point at which God would begin "life". When a sperm and ova unite in the fallopian tube, cell division begins. The zygote will divide and is supposed to migrate to the womb. By design, a blastomere of a few cells is not life sustaining at this point. And if it does not migrate to the womb, the mother would die unless this embryo is taken surgically - a medical practice that no one , not even the pro-life groups, object to. Therein lies the argument that these candidates are in lock-step with an excuse for the explicit purpose of pandering for votes and Party approval. The potential for development into a life, even after migration to the womb, by design will result in miscarriages, an act of god some would say, especially when that embryo is developing abnormally. After a baby takes its first breath we can clearly define when life actually begins. Before that point in time we just do not have an answer. Somewhere in the first trimester has been a medically accepted opinion by some Republican Clubs. For example, the California Republican Party had a statement on their website in 2006, under the former chairman, that in the case of rape, if the woman reported the incident to the police within a short time then abortion should be allowed. An apparent attempt at compassionate conservatism however given the fact that rape is rarely reported because the woman is either shamed or further victimized with some level of blame for the incident, this too was not a well thought out position. As a life-long Republican, I expect more of our leadership.

Top Story of 2007

Kudos to the Press Enterprise for their ongoing investigative reports that are exposing the connection of public servants and Dan Stephenson of Rancon. The story began on December 2, 2007 with a huge Sunday edition expose containing "County Supervisor's Super Deals", "Cashing In On Growth" and "Timeline of Temecula development" authored by David Danielski with contributions from staff writer Kimberly Trone. David Danielski and Jeff Horseman continued the expose with "Temecula councilman's vote on 2003 city land deal helpful for his client", published on December 21, 2007.

Remember, Dan Stephenson raised a half million dollars to oppose the Recall of three Murrieta councilmen. His draconian protection plan was aided by Kevin Jeffries' acceptance of Stephenson's offer to support his campaign for State Assembly conditional on Jeffries' authorization of Riverside Republican Party opposition to the Recall. According to Stephenson, he told Jeffries, "if you do this for us, I will support your campaign". When taken together with the investigative reports published by the Press Enterprise in connection with Temecula elected officials and Supervisor Stone, it is clear that a case of election racketeering needs to be investigated by the District Attorney and at the federal level.

Contact District Attorney Pacheco and request an investigation by his department. The District Attorney has a countywide problem to explore considering that Vick Knight, elected to the Riverside County Board of Education in March 2004, escaped a State election's audit because, according to the Registrar of Voters office, he has no financial reports on file. Interesting since he won the endorsement and $1,000 contribution from the Lake Elsinore Teachers Union and numerous campaign pieces were mailed to voters.

If DA Pacheco can't link one piece of fraud to any of these elected officials then he needs to level the playing field with a "how to" book for the benefit of all the future candidates in Riverside County.

The Bugle website link "Top Story of 2007" has posted the preponderance of evidence of election fraud in Riverside County. Press Enterprise archived articles are viewed at www.pe.com