INDEPENDENT NEWS

APN: E-Voting Critic Runs for Dem Chair in Georgia

Published: Fri 1 Dec 2006 03:52 PM
EXCLUSIVE: E-Voting Critic Runs for Dem Chair in Georgia
By Matthew Cardinale, News Editor and National Correspondent
Atlanta Progressive News (November 30, 2006)
(APN) ATLANTA – Donzella James, a former Georgia State Senator, US Congressional candidate, and elections integrity advocate, has decided to run for Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Georgia, Atlanta Progressive News has learned in an exclusive.
In related news, Carlotta Harrell, who recently ran for School Superintendent and was considering the DPG Chairpersonship, has decided not to run, in part because she did not want to oppose James, APN has also confirmed with Harrell.
James received national acclaim recently for her lawsuit against the State of Georgia for certifying an election based on unverifible, unmeaningful electronic voting results.
James contends there is absolutely no way of knowing whether we can currently trust any E-voting results without a paper trail.
James’s lawsuit over the so-called “election results” in James’s Primary race against centrist US Rep. David Scott (D-GA), set a national precedent, activists say.
James, in addition to a Republican candidate and Libertarian candidate, recently joined the VoterGA lawsuit as well.
The VoterGA lawsuit wants an injunction against Georgia elections until they comply with the law [for instance, the word “ballot” is in the Georgia Constitution and a vanishing electronic record is not a ballot]. This lawsuit has also been covered extensively by APN.
James’s campaign documented many errors on Election Day by interviewing many voters.
One Georgia blogger, Andre Walker, who according to James used to volunteer for James’s campaign, applauded the VoterGA lawsuit in a recent post.
Walker questioned in the same post whether James should have joined the VoterGA lawsuit because the margin of James’s apparent loss couldn’t be accounted for by E-voting glitches.
However, James argues her case is not simply a matter of counting up the known errors to see if they’re greater than the margin of her apparent loss to US Rep. Scott.
What’s even more troubling, James says, is we’d never know if additional errors were occurring because there’s no meaningful way of knowing votes are being counted at all.
In addition to restoring elections integrity, James’s goals as Chair would be to focus on grassroots organizing in a concerted effort to empower and educate nonvoters; develop a state platform of principles similar to that recently passed by the Democratic National Committee; and focus on developing young leaders within the Party, she said.
It is also time to “heal the party,” James said, referring to many people who she laments have left the Party, to say they’re now “independent.”
James says she has been talking with a lot of people about their views about the Party and is beginning the steps towards officially declaring her candidacy.
EDITOR'S NOTE: We would like to remind our readers that our publication is nonpartisan even though it has a progressive editorial platform. Therefore, we don't care if it's the Democratic Party, the Green Party, or the Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Party who does it, we just want better policies. Any leader who pursues progressive causes is newsworthy here.
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About the author:
Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor and National Correspondent for Atlanta Progressive News. He may be reached at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com
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This article may be reprinted in full at no cost where Atlanta Progressive News is credited.

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