Audit Campaign Action Update

Dear Oregon Voter Rights Coalition Supporter:

Thank you for writing to your county clerks and county commissioners to urge them to support mandatory random sample audits of election results for national and statewide offices in Oregon. We’ve heard that the letters have made quite an impact.

For your information, the Oregon Voter Rights Coalition wrote a lengthy letter that addressed the responses the county clerks sent in reply to your letters and
emails:
http://tinyurl.com/7c685

We also offered to give the county clerks a presentation of the audit methodology (http://www.oregonvrc.org/2005/09/summary_of_audit_proposal_for_oregon) and (http://www.oregonvrc.org/2005/09/election_audit_questions_and_answers) that we have developed at their Oregon Association of County Clerks (OACC) meeting in Prineville, OR that took place August 15 – 18, 2005. In response to our letter, the OACC invited us to attend their meeting in Prineville and provided us enough time to give a brief presentation of the audit methodology.

Three of us, Nancy Matela, Dr. Jerry Adams and Betsy Salter, attended portions of the OACC meeting. After our presentation a number of county clerks indicated interest in working with the Coalition on a couple of pilot projects and others offered to help us with the poster session for the National Summit to Save Our Elections. We were very encouraged by our interaction with the Oregon County Clerks during this meeting.

Your emails and letters to the county clerks in support of mandatory random sample audits helped us get this far. The county clerks know that there are citizens across the state who are concerned about the security of Oregon’s election system given our dependence on proprietary software in the optical scanners we use to read our paper ballots and in the computers we use to aggregate and report election results.

In Prineville, Nancy, Jerry and Betsy were able to put a face on the constituents who support mandatory random sample audits. We are reasonable people with documented and valid concerns. We are serious, we are committed and we are not going to go away. We want to work in partnership with State and local election officials, but we expect officials to work with us in good faith and in a timely manner reflecting the need to adopt reforms in time for the 2006 elections.

To succeed, we need your help to send another round of citizen letters to all 36 county clerks ASAP.

Our goal: to advise or remind your county clerks that you support adoption of mandatory random sample audits to verify election results for all national and statewide offices.

Also, please let them know that you hope they will participate in the National Summit to Save Our Elections (http://www.summit.oregonvrc.org/) September 30 – October 2, 2005. If you are going to attend the conference, let them know you will be there and hope to meet them.

LINK TO OREGON COUNTY CLERK CONTACT INFORMATION:
http://www.oregonvotes.org/county

Thanks again for your time and support! Together we are making a difference!

Oregon Voter Rights Coalition

For more information or if you have questions, please send an email to audit@oregonvrc.org.