On Thursday, November 20, 2008, I hope you can join me to speak to the idea of the County of Oakland, due to the malfunctions that Ruth Johnson's letters speaks to, offering to pay for recounts of races that occurred in 2008 election. Four races were decided by less than 1% of the votes. I have put forth a resolution that would make this possible. I am asking my readers to attend the meeting on Nov. 20 at 9 a.m. in the Commissioner's Auditorium at 1200 N. Telegraph in Pontiac. There is an opportunity for public comment at the beginning of the meeting for up to 5 minutes. Please join me in asking the Commission to adopt my resolution.
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deed, Ruth Johnson wrote a letter to the Election Assistance Commission on October 24th, 2008 warning that the ES&S M100 voting machines used in Oakland County had failed their logic and accuracy tests, yielding different results when the same ballots were run through the machines, producing different results each time
WHEREAS, when this issue was brought to the attention of the Oakland County Director of Elections, Joe Rozell and it was determined that dust and debris buildup on the sensors inside the M100 machines was the reason for the failure of the logic and accuracy tests
WHEREAS, conflicting vote totals have reportedly surfaced in other areas of Michigan and a record number of ballots went through the M100 voting machines across Oakland County and across the state of Michigan on November 4, 2008
WHEREAS, according to Ruth Johnson’s letter to the EAC, there has been no maintenance performed on the M100 voting machines due to the fact that performing such maintenance would void the warranty on said machines and that ES&S has not performed any preventative maintenance under the state contract since the machines were delivered three years ago
WHEREAS, Ruth Johnson, in her letter to the EAC has asked for a federal directive or law that would allow county clerks, under the supervision of their bi-partisan canvas board to conduct random audits to test machine accuracy using voting tabulators that have had preventative maintenance within the last year
WHEREAS, fair and accurate tallying of all votes is essential to ensure that the voting system in the United States of America is fair and that the proper candidates are selected to serve as elected representatives of the people
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that in order to insure voters in Oakland County and in the United States of America that the November 4, 2008 results are accurate, a hand count of all ballots in Oakland County shall be conducted in order to determine the accurate counting of votes and the intent of the voters, and that such hand recount of all ballots cast in Oakland County shall be conducted in all races where any candidate shall request such hand count of the ballots at county expense and that such recount be done as expeditiously as possible so that the proper candidates shall serve as the elected representative of the people.
Republicans appear to be very slow learners. Even after voters in Oakland County gave historic wins to Democrats nationally and voted in for the first time a Democratic Prosecutor and Democratic Treasurer, they still insist on playing the hyperpartisan games taught to them by Karl Rove and the national Republican party. Instead of letting the standing committees of the Oakland County Commission reflect the current 13-12 makeup of the full Commission, they have decided to weight committee assignments heavily in favor of Republicans. The prior committee makeup had reflected the close makeup of the full board.
