Oakland County Commission - Citizens Speak Up for Fair Elections

On Thursday, myself and five others attended the Oakland County Commission to put forth a resolution asking that the county pay for requested hand counted recounts due to the problems noted with M100 voting machines in Clerk Ruth Johnson's letter to the Election Assistance Commission.

Oakland Press- Activist Seeks Hand Recount

On Thursday morning at the bi-weekly meeting of the Oakland County Board of Commissions, myself and several other election reform advocates will argue for a hand recount of some of the races in Oakland County based on Ruth Johnson's 10/24 letter to the Election Assistance Commission, stating that there were problems with some of the machines in Oakland County, prior to the November 4 election.
Do you think just because we have paper ballots counted by machines that election fraud can't happen in Michigan? You'd be wrong. Watch this video.

Join Me at the Oakland County Commission on Thursday Nov. 20, 9 a.m.

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.

Troy Eccentric: Activist Protests Appointment of GOP Member to Commission

Bob Gosselin must have a desire to be a comedian, calling me a bully. I guess I'll just have to consider the source.

Activist protests appointment of GOP member to commission

By Steve Kowalski • ECCENTRIC STAFF WRITER • September 11, 2008

Democratic activist Bruce Fealk showed up at the Sept. 4 public meeting of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners to protest the appointment of Republican Glenn Clark to replace Democrat George W. Suarez in District 24.

Suarez died of cancer Aug. 12, and nine days later, the county commission voted along party lines, 13-11, to appoint Clark until the end of the two-year term, Dec. 31.

Clark is a Troy resident, party delegate and 9th Congressional District GOP chairman. Republican Robert Gosselin, the District 13 commissioner from Troy, nominated Clark.

"I come before (the commission) to express my outrage at the appointment of a Republican, Glenn Clark, to replace the recently deceased George Suarez," Fealk read in a statement. "Glenn Clark represents the far right wing of the Republican party."

Fealk, a Rochester Hills resident, described Clark as "a political bully" and said "Bob Gosselin and the rest of the Republicans on this commission should be ashamed of themselves for committing such an open act of partisan politics."

Suarez, who lived in Madison Heights, had been the district representative since 1999. Democrat Gary McGillivray and Republican Daniel K. Milz, both from Madison Heights, are opponents in the November election. With a Republican temporarily filling the District 24 seat, the GOP has a 14-11 edge on the board.

Gosselin called Fealk a "partisan bully."

"Fealk is just a Democrat activist that carries things way over the top," Gosselin said. "He's very offensive, writes bizarre editorials, is looking to pick a fight. It's sad to say that we have bullies in society like that."

Fealk won the Progressive Activist of the Year award earlier this year, given by Blogging for Michigan, and he has been known to confront District 9 Congressman Joe Knollenberg (R-Bloomfield), who is running for re-election against Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township).

Gosselin introduced Clark to the Troy City Council at Monday's public meeting.

"He's a liberal Democrat, I'm a conservative Republican," Clark said, when asked about Fealk's protest. "If he doesn't care for me, that's his right. America is a great place and the First Amendment right is a great concept."

skowalsk@hometownlife.com|(248) 901-2571

The Oakland Press covered our protest against the appointment of Conservative Republican, Glenn Clark, to serve out the unexpired term of Democrat George Suarez, who passed away recently.

Oakland County Residents Protest the Appointment of Glenn Clark

Today at the Oakland County Commissioners meeting residents spoke out against the appointment of Glenn Clark to the unexpired term of Democrat George Suarez, who recently passed away.

Barack Obama Impresses Rochester Voters

Click here to read the story at the Rochester Eccentric

Barack Obama Excites Crowd in Troy

Some of the Oakland County Democratic Party contingent, from left to right, Jim Kruer, Jason Bauer, Jayne Hamilton and Liz Sadowski attended Barack Obama's Town Hall. We took this picture after Obama's speech.
I didn't get this woman's name, but I loved her T-shirt. Peggy Agar from Channel 7 did get her interview, just like Barack Obama promised.
Oakland County Commissioner, Mattie Hatchett and candidate for Oakland County candidate for Clerk, Sheila Smith.
Me (Bruce Fealk) with Southfield Mayor, Brenda Lawrence and candidate for Oakland County Executive.

Bruce Fealk wins Progressive Activist of the Year Award

Yesterday at the Michigan Progress Summit in Lansing, Christine Barry and Jim Hightower presented me with the first annual Progressive Activist of the Year Award. I'm honored to be the first recipient of this award. The award was created by Blogging for Michigan.

Bruce Fealk's testimony to the State Senate Subcommittee on Funding Higher Education

On Friday, February 22, 2008, I drove 4 hours round trip and spent approximately 3 hours on campus at Alma College to have an opportunity to respond to Dennis Lennox's ridiculous assertion that the state delay funding CMU's education budget in response to the hiring of Gary Peters as the Griffin Endowment professor in the political science department.