Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, September 28, 2010,
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. This item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda with the .would the following three individuals please come forward, (indiscernible), mr. Acevedo, pablo ortiz. Mr. Vicker.
>> good morning, commissioners. My name is antone know bigger. I'm a 12 year austin resident. I currently reside in precinct two on the east side. I would like to give you a little bit about myself and then tell you why i'm here and to ask from you guys. My father was a justice of the peace for 26 years in clayburg county. My mother was a 30-year teacher and currently a reporter for a local government. They've dedicated their lives to community service. And i in 2004 earned a degree in government from the university of texas. With this strong government background, i must tell you i'm losing faith in the system. I'm here today to talk about election fraud and the use of travis county electronic voting machines. As most of you guys probably know, there's numerous reports of election fraud. There's a real threat of hacking. There's numerous documentaries about this and i recently read a peer review study called the analysis of the heart intercivic dau slate machine. This was conducted by uc davis. It basically was a study that gave these computer science engineers access to the machines to see if they could be hacked for or manipulate understand any way. The funny thing about this is they weren't even given the source code. It was just basically a test on procedures. Those findings concluded this type of analysis also disproves a claim that without disclosed source code electronic voting systems can be manipulated. There's numerous firsthand stories as well. I recently had the privilege of having dinner with a gubernatorial candidate who told me firsthand as precinct chair of her county she witnessed firsthand how a voting machine voted on one page, but change heard ballot vote on another. This machine was isolated, but all of those votes were basically void. There's no way knowing how my vote is counted currently. It's done in secret. Source code is private to the companies. I believe it is much easier for one individual to have access to that source code to be compromised versus having a whole team of hand counted paper ballot individuals col lewd in some kind of corruption. Recently we had a houston fire cost $30 million or $40 million estimated in voting machines and we're sending some voting machines over there and one must ask themselves, if an individual who is really determined to affect an election, why would they go after electronic vote machines, especially when you have the candidate from that city? Also, last but not least, i've been doing basically lobbying the city council. I'm here today for the first time in front of you guys. And one thing that i've noticed with the recurring theme --
>> [ buzzer sounds ] -- is unresponsive elected officials. I hope that y'all consider some of vote rescue's initiatives and conclude with the hand counted paper ballots, please.
>> thank you. Mr. Acevedo.
>> my name is (indiscernible) acevedo, commissioners. I'm glad to be here this morning. I'm representing today the league of latin american citizens district 12 and president of consul 4860. The league has passed a resolution for open and honest public elections, hand counted paper ballots. We have asked for your consideration to consider doing a pilot program with hand counted paper ballots for this particular november 2nd election. I hope you take that seriously through your court and of course in agreement with the election clerk. So we hope that you can do that. Put it on the agenda and make a serious attempt to let us run a pilot program here in travis county. With hand counted paper ballots. I'm going to end this way, commissioners. It's going to be short, i'm not feeling that great. Hand counted paper ballots. We, the latino community, will do the outreach to continue to educate the latinos and the public as i was on univision just last week. This.
>> [speaking spanish] goes throughout the state of texas. And we specifically address the machines and the way the vote is counted secretly and more so the fact that when we ask for a ballot in spanish, it could definitely be singled out immediately because there are a lot of (indiscernible) and so forth that wouldn't be mistaken for anybody else but a latino. So i want to leave it with you with that, commissioners. Consider what i just said about giving us the opportunity to have a pilot program here in travis county. And educate the public as to how convenient it can be to accurately count your ballots. Thank you, sir.
>> thank you, mr. Acevedo.
>> [ applause ] mr. Ortiz is next. If you are holding sign-in slip number 4, it's time for you to come forward. Bill stout. And if you're holding sign-in slip number 4 -- anybody holding that one? Bill stout and karen rennek, please come forward. Mr. Ortiz.
>> good morning, judge, commissioners. It's been a long time since i've been here at the commissioners court. My name is pablo ortiz. I'm here on behalf of the hispanic democrats, one of the largest caucus groups in this past state democratic convention. I'm also here on behalf of my children. I'm not too computer literate, but they are. My boys, they love it. Our younger generation are engulfed in it. My granddaughter loves it. She's doing homework on it and all. They know what's going on out there. They know how easy it is to manipulate, to do things. And guess what? You don't have to be connected to the internet to stick in a virus, to do whatever wrong you want to do. And most important, some of the worst criminals that are out there in cyberspace are being employed by the big corporations, the government itself. So think about it. What's happening out there? We've got criminals that are taking control. We've got big corporations that are taking control of our vote. And that's the way it is. They can do that easily. Some of the smartest people that are out there that are computer literate that are out there pushing and pressing the limits of the net, of our computers, they're out there working for the government. Think about that. My sons sometimes i say hey, let's go -- they'll tell me, hey, man, you're wasting your time. They can do anything they want to, whenever they want to. My granddaughter, she say the same thing. When are we going to become aware or when did we decide to ignore the fact that the vote is of the people, by the people and for the people? It's not for machines, it's not for scanners. It's not for all these high-tech things. I mean, it's imbedded in the fundamentals of this country. Where did we lose sight? Where? I ask you, please, support the initiative. We need to have a paper balance lovment we need to have somebody out there counting our votes. We need to put it at the piece to our children, into the future of this country. Thank you.
>> john bush is next. Followed by bill stout and by -- followed by karen renek. Mr. Bush?
>> thank you. My name is john bush, executive director of texans for accountable governments. We are a local trans partisan political action committee. This is the first time that i've spoken before the commission. It's because i care very deeply about this particular issue. And many others in the community do as well. I want to remind you that whenever you all took office you took an oath to not only the united states constitution, but the texas constitution as well. I'm going to read you a couple of sections of the texas bill of rights, to remind you what duties you hold as elected representatives of we the people. Section 2 of the bill of rights is the inherent political power and republican form of government. It states that the faith of the people of texas stands pledged to the preservation of a republican form of government. Republican form means that we are in the democratic republic and you are representative of we the people. We have votes to do that. I hate to say it, but i have lost just about all faith in the system as it stands and the manner in which we elect our representatives. As you just heard from my fellow citizen here, that his grandchildren have lost faith as well and that's very disheartening thing to hear. So that's a problem. The electronic voting machines are a problem and i don't think we need to tell you that. I'm pretty sure you're well aware, you've heard from many of these people from the past years and months even. So i don't need to go over the facts. There's a problem, so what's the solution? Well, we move down to section 727 of the texas bill of rights which states that the citizens shall have the rights and a peaceable manner to assemble together for their common good and apply to those invested with the powers of government, you folks.
>> our call falls upon deaf ears for a public hearing. I don't believe it is too much to ask. I watched you breeze through four public hearings. In my opinion what we're dealing with right here is far more important than any of these issues, even the budget. After all like i said before, we the people no longer feel secure in our elections. On not only are you violating our right to petition the government for redress of grievances, but also our inherent right for our elections and our vote and again we're losing faith in the system, so what can we do now, now that we have a county commissioners court that is not responding to our petition for redress. Well, maybe we can unelect you guys. Well, again, we don't have faith in the system. This is not to say that there's corruption or fraud going on at every single level, but the problem lies in the fact that we the people have no idea or no means to redress those particular votes because they're all counted in private. There's no way to go back and see them.
>> we're not only betraying the office, but betraying county commissioners, but betraying everything that this country stands for, which is representative government and we don't have it at this particular moment. Thank you.
>> thank you. Bill stout. Would vicky cart come forward.
>> good morning, commissioners of travis county. My name is bill stout, member of the travis county green party. The travis county clerk after all her reassurances of security cannot hold a recount of an election. In travis county by using electronic voting boxes, the county clerk cannot verify that the conditioned dats people vote for on their ballot will receive those votes as they were cast. No proof exists that your vote was cast and counted. It is invisible voting. Highly suspect under your constitution and the voting rights act of 1965. The travis county clerk before, during and to this day is going to use electronic voting boxes or scanners which cannot produce a recount. Invisibly cast your vote in which thousands can be flipped. Computer experts have shown time and again that any computerized system is vulnerable to being hacked. We the people of travis county are asking in essence demanding a public hearing now to determine the validity and accountability of continue to go use electronic voting machines or to in essence go back to the future. And use a hand counted paper ballot system as was succinctly described in the lulac resolution. We have seen the denial of our constitutional right for any citizen to have a vote. The county clerk has not acknowledged or addressed the voting rights act after being asked several times by members of the election study group.
>> it leads to outcomes of personal lives being destroyed as was described to you last week by les chambers and can come in the form of multiple wars, devastating lies, devastating international councilmember alvarez and the planet that stains us. Including ecological destruction like the bp water spew, fda approval of genetically modified food, corporate elections and the exclusion of political voices. Citizens and their representatives do not vote for these. Corporate government does. All due respect to the county clerk in her long absence as the reason to postpone a hearing, surely she has a deputy who can fill in to answer policy issues.
>> i would request that you and citizens of travis county take the opportunity to join a coalition of people to take back our elections and once again to have citizens controlled elections. Thank you very much.
>> [ applause ]
>> you are a member of the study group and you're aware of the october 13th meeting. You plan to attend that one.
>> yes.
>> do you think that a majority of the committee supports paper ballots. I don't know. I haven't been to the meetings.
>> i can't say that. No. Then there's a -- there's certainly a large group that is expressly behind the county clerk. I think that was intentional in terms of her choices of those citizens. And i think that the -- just because there's a minority of citizens that are looking at all terntives, it doesn't mean that those alternatives shouldn't be looked at seriously.
>> as i indicated in my written communication, county clerk says the study group will meet october 13th and she said she request an agenda item after that. So we can discuss the study group's recommendations and any -- any accidenting water -- dissenting report, any other ideas. That was in my memo. I think that's where a majority of the court stands.
>> that report has already been produce and you have available to you.
>> what's october 13th meeting about?
>> citizens have been asking for over two years now for this issue to be discuss and have a public hearing.
>> if you change the manner in which you vote, that has to be cleared with the justice department. With the u.s. Justice department. So i don't know that we are on our own just have the ability to do it. I think that we can decide what changes we want to make, then get clearance with the justice department and get clearance to do it. Thank you: ms. Tharp is next, followed by gus pena.
>> my name is karen renek, i am the founder and director of vote rescue. Good morning, judge and commissioners. I had planned to say a few things, but i had to answer some of the questions you raised with bill stout of the green party. In regards to contacting the department of justice, i believe we would have to contact them. I want to let you know that i have already done that. I have talked to several people in washington and with the united states commission on civil rights to alert them that there is a vast irregularities happening here in travis county because our votes are being counted secretly. So i am in communication with the department of justice at this moment. I think you are also asking about the citigroup and you were questioning why are they getting together on the 13th? 13th. Well dana, our county clerk, has taken it upon herself to do extensive research on the next generation of voting systems. So that our votes are being continued to be counted electronically. So she has been looking into this. Really the only option that is out there will be county by -- count by optical scanners. And we've tried to repeatedly point out to our fellow citizens that we don't want them to be fooled as many citizens are that we're told that they're going to paper ballots. They think hooray we're getting paper ballots and most people think when they hear paper ballots they automatically think that they're being counted by chand. But they won't. They will be counted by probably digital scanners, more sophisticated digital scanners, the next generation. So that is why she's calling this meeting on the 13th to rally the troops. The group, as we said in our report of alternate findings and recommendations, there were 45 members that were invited to participate in this study group. Most of them were fellow people that work with her and work with her over the years in elections. There are fellow county people from the -- gosh, the auditing department or the procurement department, veteran affairs. It really wasn't a cross-section of citizens. And that's why i support exactly what bill said is that even though our position may represent only four official members of that group who we represent, truly represent citizens of travis county and not just former elected officials that were invited to be on this group. So on the 13th dana will reconvene the study group and all of her hand selected people will nod in agreement to that. Thank you.
>> thank you. Miss cart.
>> may i ask a question? Is it your position that any alternative system that would make it possible to both electronically count and hand count the same body of ballots is not -- is that sufficient or not?
>> we would have to discuss it. It depends on when the hand count is done. We believe that the hand count needs to be done on election night with no interruption in the process whatsoever. So that it's only when the process is interrupted and ballots or any election materials go out of public view, that just invites people to do something. So our process is everything is counted on election night and then the -- the results are posted at the precincts. The election code now says that everything has to go to the county and then the people there decide if everything is okay and then they post the results. We don't find that appropriate at all. We think it just needs to be one continuous open public observable process. And once everything is posted publicly, then we don't care where things go frankly. It's just a matter of them counting up all of the publicly posted precinct results.
>> miss carr?
>> good morning, commissioners and judge. Last night i attended a meeting of texans for accountable government, well represented here today by john bush and gabe bigger. They are the latest organization to join our hand count coalition. And i was explaining to them what we've been doing here in court for the last few weeks, requesting a public hearing immediately and not waiting until after the study group reconvenes and the official report be presented because of the time element involved here and the elections around the corner, and this is just as i had mentioned before, kind of a familiar scenario where we're asking for something to be done before the election that will add transparency and accountability to to it, the public hearing. We're asking that every voter in travis county be allowed to vote on a paper ballot if so desired. And that preparation would need to start now although it's been done 13 days before an election, as i had recount understand a memo by the secretary of state election division and back in 2006, 13 days before an election. She told -- she communicated with every county election clerk and said be prepared to hold a hand counted paper ballot election because they were having problems with the electronic voting machine vendors. Thirdly i told them how we were asking for this pilot project for hand counting in select precincts. And the response was what we've been finding, the response was very enthusiastic. People want to count the votes. People want to count the votes. Vote rescue, in the past we've done a number of monitoring actions, including parallel elections with paper ballots where we're outside of a real precinct on election day with duplicate ballots that say this is not your official ballot, but it has all the races and candidates on it inviting people to come over and cast their ballot again on paper and then stick around after 7:00 and watch us teams of counters in a very methodical, monitored way count the votes. And when we have our volunteers doing that, they get so excited because they have just been -- people have been programmed to trust the machines, trust the machines. But when they actually have a chance to actually participate in the process of counting their -- the votes of their fellow citizens of their presing, it is such an empowering thing. It is -- as the tv commercial says, it's a priceless thing. So we're asking once again for the public hearing, we're asking that you request the county that we the county election office, that every voter has an opportunity to get a paper ballot on election day. There's still time for that. And we ask for this pilot program that you ask the county election office, that we have a program for hand counting. I would like to invite each one of you to participate in hand counting paper ballots because if you do you will never go back.
>> gus pena, native east austinite. Went to school at zavala, proud graduate of albert sydney johnson high school. You may put down the name and title, whatever. I'm proud of my school. Number one, i would like to thank senator watson's office and state representative eddie rodriguez's office for finally clarifying the issue as to why the citizens were denied dental care at whatever it's called now, the hospital district dental clinics. I got a call from mrs. Jean anderson yesterday. She was happy. Senator watson's office and state representative rodriguez's office called and said you are eligible. They finally got a contact person from the district to make a clear, concise, precise determination that they are eligible to receive the services. Why did she have to go through this rigmarole? Why do we have to put senior citizens through this type of situation when they need more respect and more help than this? They paved the way for us. It is totally unacceptable. Judge, excuse me for point agriculture finger at you, thank you very much for your help also. You were very helpful. Also i just get angry, yes, i get angry, gus pena gets angry at the system and the people that will not help our precious senior citizens and kids. I'll leave it at that. Homeless, homelessness, more families are homeless. I had the articles with me. I maddie a copy of that. -- i made a copy of that. Poverty rate is higher than what it was now. A lot more people are losing their jobs. You say well, we're going to bring in a company, bring in jobs. Make sure they have a liveable wage where they can pay their rent, electricity, utilities. And food. The recession is still here. I don't know what garbage or where they are getting their statistical data. The recession will be here two, three more years if any. We're losing ground. China is now the richest country in the world. They're exporting more stuff to us over here than we're exporting stuff to them. Not acceptable. Military veterans, military personnel, show your respect and support and appreciation for the military personnel in harm's way and in afghanistan and iraq. They come back and they need services, jobs, etcetera. Give them the thanks they need. Mentors and students. Students are failing math and reading. Please volunteer if you have a chance. Make time, please. Make time. A society's worth is measured by its treatment of the less fortunate. Kiss your children, hug your children. Tell them that you love them because i might not have them tomorrow. Last issue is this. Commissioner huber, i'm going to say this because i'm pretty well disrespecting this. I went to your office three years ago, asked for two paperclips. I got disrespect from your staff, mr. Brown specifically. That's not right. I'm a marine corps veteran. I put my life on the line for our country. This should not have happened. And you claim i'm always asking for supplies. Let me tell you something, young lady. I help people get elected, i help people get unelected. I'll wrap up, judge. I have one of these folders, three paperclips and pens, one that y'all give me. It didn't work. This is for you. Don't tell me that i never gave you something back.
>> [ applause ]
>> mr. Pena. Our office is always try to help out people who get caught short, but the regular and frequent requests for office supplies on the commissioners floor is something that i do not believe our taxpayers would support, free office supply resource there with their money.
>> i don't think anybody who offered me free supplies, young lady. I pay taxes, i pay your salary too. And by the way, you just got back what you gave me and what you gave me the first time, the pen didn't work, so let me tell you something, show me respect. I've earned it. United states marine corps veteran. Thank you very much. I might help get you unelected.
>> thank you for your service to to the country.
>> morris priest.
>> judge, commissioners, morris priest speaking on my own behalf. When we go and look back the people that come up and whether they oppose toll roads or whether they oppose abortions or whether they oppose electronic voting, one thing that is occurring in our society, especially locally right her in austin, travis county, is people are recognizing whether it's an environmental issue which we saw with this court undermining voters because the voters did vote in southwest 45 and then we bought the right-of-way. We see time and time again that the liberal groups, they form these organizations and they still vote for the very people that they complain about. And many citizens are waking up to this and many people realize that whether it's vote rescue or stop domain or change austin or tag or any group, that these people aren't coming up here and saying it's time to throw you bums out. Then they have no credibility. But more and more people are coming along those lines of understanding. And many people even we saw with the sierra club and other organizations, they say time and time again that it was just so clear during that meeting with southwest 45 most of the environmentalists, the liberals, sierra club, save our springs, all these organizations, they knew that they were speaking on behalf after group, but they all admitted that they didn't represent the group and this they couldn't tell how many people would stand behind them on a particular issue such as southwest 45. Because most of the people that were here, they were just simply not wanting all the added traffic on mopac. Even though they didn't realize that it wouldn't add traffic to mopac, it would just allow those people who lived in that area of shady hollow to not have to spend 45 minutes trying to get out of their neighborhood. Much like the people in austin colony. So basically what i'm saying is most people despite all these groups and despite all their rhetoric, whether they have a following or not, many of the people in their organizations are not following them. The only people that are really coming together and really working hard are the people that are unseating our incumbents and we're seeing this even in areas such as hays county and other areas. Because we know that we haven't been represented. So i really don't think that very many of these groups that have these individuals that come and speak, and there's also a large contingency of liberals posing as independents. I myself consider myself a non-party person. And there's more and more people that are non-party. But many of the liberal people in this community are calling themselves independents, but in fact it's liberal. But the conservative movement is growing and it's not really about the left-right, it's really not about our elected officials. It's really pretty much who we choose to serve. And we choose to serve our creator. Thank you.
>> mr. Priest?
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic].
>> commissioner huber?
>> mr. Priest, all other arguments for and against 45, i would like to point out that that bond election was sold to the voters as bonds for a road that would be free and that would solve the problems on brodie. The current profile of that road addresses neither.
>> linda green?
>> it's very distressing for me to come here knowing that vote rescue has been speaking to our government for years. Fluoride in our water. You are listening to all the rationale for and against the voting machines and here i am a couple of years later and there's just a silence that -- where you take in what people have to say and then there's no action on it. I'm trying to appeal to hearts. My father, grandfather and my uncles were all retired military colonels. My name is linda green. I go way back to military, fighting for their country, and back in 2000 we lost an election that took us to wars. In 2000 my sons were 19 and 21. And voting devices helped get us there. So when i watched television and i see voting taking place in iraq and afghanistan and i see hand counted paper ballots and i see these clear boxes where people get to vote, it makes me very, very sad that our country is willing to sacrifice our young people, our soldiers, so that other individuals and other parts of the world can have hand counted paper ballots in public view. And as a lot of people know in this town, my car is covered with bumper stickers, so i want to read you some that i bought yesterday. To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism. These people are here to oppose a corrupt form of voting. And another one, at what point do you say no more? And we have been saying no more for white a long time to these electronic voting machines. A couple of weeks ago there was a huge fire in houston. I think they said it was 10 football fields of voting machines went up in flames. And i was sitting there thinking wow, that's another good reason not to have voting machines because think of all the people that got sick from plastics and metals that went up in smoke. And all the money that goes to storing and maintaining these voting machines and how susceptible these voting mchedz are to weather. So there's an environmental reason not to have the voting machines. And here's one. Who did your voting machine vote for?
>> [ laughter ] and that's been a question we've been asking for such a long time. So i am trying to appeal to your hearts. This morning on public radio it says the greatest dpis parity ever between the rich and the poor --
>> [ buzzer sounds ] is now. And so the earth can no longer afford the rich and we can no longer afford voting machines that support corporate wealth and forget the needs of our people.
>> [ applause ]
>> mr. Reeferseed, the last speaker today.
>> not to make a big deal out of the shooting, but undoubtedly a (indiscernible) operation. And just to share with you all, i learned about that kind of stuff at infowars.com. And i suggest everybody who can hear this to check out online infowars.com. And again, they made this handy little flyer where people can just see what we're talking about. And linda has been leading us all for years on this very issue. I got this on the bus right now and here's a copy of her thing that she's been hand outing for years that has the handy number for the mayor and the city council criminals. And here it is in spanish. And also two of my personal heros are rescue gals who gave us all this information in the faulty voting machines and we just need to get on top of this. This is what democracy is about. Real simple, the ballots have to be -- they can't go out of our sight. We have to be able to watch them. And like was just pointed out, in the new democracy they know they have ballot boxes where you can watch the paper ballots and we have possession of them. And it's just simple procedures and we need to do this. I'm looking for leadership from you all because i'm real proud of you as opposed to like i said the city council of criminals. In general you do good things as opposed to this thing with abortion. Why, why, why? Why do we all have to pay for this? I'm a caring individual. I used to even be a favorite of that point of view. But i know that not only me, but there's a whole lot of people who it hurts us in the heart to have to pay money for other people to kill babies. That's just how we feel about it. You can disagree all you want.
>> out of all the counties in texas, conservative, liberal, everybody else, nobody dares to make all of us pay for abortion, except here. Hello? Are you proud? Are you so proud of killing babies that you want to impose that point of view. In the conservative state of texas we're the only one county, not to mention the nation and the world. It's shameful. I'm really ashamed about that more than anything else. And there's something that we're trying to get on top fof a long time.
>> thank you. Anybody here to receive the proclamation on item number 6? Anybody here to receive the proclamation on item number 6?
>> family violence?
>> the family violence. Family violence resolution. Okay.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 3:37 PM
