[ale] OT: VoterGA eVoting suit -- oral args on appeal before the GA Supreme Court

[Aaron Ruscetta]

[ A thank you to Bob Toxen for the off list request for
information that prompted this post. ]

I was able to attend yesterday's (7/13) Georgia Supreme Court
appeal hearing regarding the VoterGA law suit.  The multiple
counts of the suit challenge the constitutionality of using
Diebold's black box, zero-evidence computer systems to
conduct our State elections. [ see <http://VoterGA.org> ]

Unfortunately, my permission to record video of the session
was withdrawn at the last hour based on fabricated concerns
that I was not directly employed by a corporate media interest.
Quality independent media distributions supporting the free
speech of the citizens are apparently not welcome in Georgia.
So much for those fraudulent party platforms claiming to
support transparency in government.

Given that I can't SHOW everyone exactly what transpired
in the court room, y'all will have to settle for  my own
"no spin zone" review of the proceedings:

I felt the VoterGA legal team did a much better presentation
of the facts than they did with oral arguments in the lower
court. The State's lawyers, of course, could do nothing but
trot out their flimsy, worn out litany of customized corporate
propaganda -- the exact same steaming pile of half truths and
misdirection and misrepresentation that I have watched these
Diebold apologists dive under dozens of times -- apparently
the only recourse for someone trying to bury or excuse the
blatant core incompetence of these proprietary, paperless
computerized election systems.

A fellow informed observer expressed disappointment and
concern that the judges did not pose more questions, given
the potentially sidetracking technicalities of the issues.
Of course, it may be that the courts are simply more concerned
with points of legal precedent. Or it may be that these judges
actually possess the common sense to realize that all the
banter about system certifications and security codes and
memory cards and holding secret software in escrow is nothing
but insipid obfuscation.

All we can hope is that the members of our State's highest
court can muster the simple wisdom to see through all the
smoke screens and uphold that, under our State constitution,
it is impossible to conduct a legal or legitimate election
using systems that are entirely incapable of producing the
essential, untainted, voter verified, physical ballot
evidence by which the citizens can publicly secure, audit
and validate their election results.

It will most likely be at least 60 days before the court
will announce their decisions.

peace
aaron