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Pima County Election IntegrityI sent a copy of my letter to Bill Buckmaster at Arizona Illustrated (below) to all local television stations and newspapers as well. The letter is self-explanatory, but let me add that I have written Mayor and Council,and every member of the Board of Supervisors regarding the need for a quick and open resolution to this issue. None responded. After I called the Ward III office, I eventually received a weak acknowledgment of my concerns from Karin Uhlich. A call to Sharon Bronson's office got me nowhere. This is a city issue as well as a county one because the city uses county Diebold election machines. I don't know whether the accused county personnel are borrowed for city elections. I'd like to know that, as well as every piece of information any news organizations can tell me about what happened at the Pima Elections Department and what is being done about it. Two days after that mass emailing, I've only had a note from Mark Kimble who was upset that I characterized his attitude on Arizona Illustrated as dismissive. He offered no indication whether the Citizen would continue its investigations. Regards, J.M. "Mike" Hayes July 24, 2007 *** Dear Mr. Buckmaster: I write mystery novels. You've been kind enough to invite me onto Arizona Illustrated in the past to discuss them. In one of my day jobs, the volunteer one, I'm the president of Campbell/Grant Northeast Neighborhood Association. Our neighborhood will likely be seriously damaged when the RTA widens Grant Road, so I was quick to notice when local media reported that attorney William Risner had brought suit on behalf of the Pima County Democratic Party challenging the integrity of that election, as well as others. Pima County's Democratic Party supported the RTA before the election. My initial reaction was to doubt there was anything to it. It sounded like a plot line appropriate to one of my books. However, the more I've looked into the County's practices and their use of Diebold's hacker-friendly Global Election Management System software, the more concerned I've become. I'm now convinced that the Pima County's elections computer and software were accessed under inappropriate circumstances and without proper security. Results are so easily manipulated in GEMS that any such access raises legitimate questions as to whether votes reported accurately reflect votes cast, up to and including the artificial selection of winners and losers. The potential impact of this story is of such magnitude that I find it impossible to understand why local media are largely ignoring it. Both the Star and Citizen ran stories in late May. http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/184860 http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/53903 Mr. Portillo and Mr. Kimble discussed the issue and were largely dismissive of it on an Arizona Illustrated Roundtable about that time. Since then, the story has hardly received any local coverage at all. I was sorry to see that the question wasn't raised in recent interviews with Board Chairman Elias and County Manager Huckelberry. This week, allegations that an NBA referee may have fixed basketball games received wide national media coverage and raised speculation that this could prove catastrophic for the league. Meanwhile, allegations that Pima County official(s) may have fixed elections go largely ignored. And that's not because nothing is happening. The Pima County Attorney has spared no effort to halt or delay Mr. Risner's demands for an investigation. Among those efforts was a request for dismissal because the Arizona Attorney General's investigation might result in Pima Elections employees exercising their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Isn't that possibility something voters should know? The Arizona Attorney General became involved after County delays resulted in the destruction of a videotape that might have shown who accessed election data and (perhaps) what they did to it. When he learned about the tape, Mr. Risner asked the State to begin a formal and open investigation. My understanding is that, on the County's recommendation, the Arizona Attorney General's Office has contacted SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), a mega-government contractor with a checkered past and a web of questionable ties to both government and business. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703 None of these events are receiving coverage and most citizens I speak to have no idea there is any doubt about the integrity of their votes. I know KUAT lacks the means to conduct investigative journalism on the level of commercial media outlets, but you have the gravitas. I watch Arizona Illustrated precisely because you make every effort to be non-partisan and provide in-depth coverage of important local issues. I can't begin to tell you how important I believe it is for KUAT to seriously examine this issue and include full and regular coverage until a thorough, open investigation determines whether we, the people, actually elect our representatives and whether tax elections like the RTA and bond issues are truly decided by the voters. Thank you, J.M. "Mike" Hayes President, Campbell/Grant Northeast Neighborhood Association hayes.jm@cox.net http://www.jmhayes-author.com/ |
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