Voter Confidence Resolution

8-8-2005: Arcata, (CA) seeks to wrest election control from corporations

(Excerpt)

Black Box Voting is often asked to tell people what to do. We don't give marching orders.

When you depend on your government, "experts," or any organization to tell you what to do, you buy into the idea that you should depend on someone else for solutions -- yet, the founders of the U.S. envisioned that you would actively participate in decision making. They trusted your common sense, and knew that the true peril to our republic would come from complacency, rather than lack of wisdom.

Here is a story of citizens who chose not to be complacent: In Arcata, California, the local citizenry created a "Resolution of Voter Confidence." (led by Dave Berman, whose actions show that one person can truly make a difference!) The full text of the Resolution is posted below this story.

"The Voter Confidence Resolution is a common sense statement saying privatized election machines and secret vote counting ensure inconclusive outcomes. Under these conditions we will never have unanimous agreement about election results," says Dave Berman, co-founder of the Voter Confidence Committee of Humboldt County, Calif.

(See also: Berman's blog: http://guvwurld.blogspot.com; also, plan to participate here: THINK OUTSIDE THE BLACK BOX Online Think Tank, any time Aug. 27-Sep. 5 to brainstorm more real solutions.)

"The Arcata City Council has demonstrated that our local government does hear the voice of the people, even when the federal government has stopped listening."

The Voter Confidence Resolution passed by a margin of 3 to 2 after 15 months of community lobbying and ultimately just 35 minutes of official public comment and discussion.

Councilmember Dave Meserve voted with the majority and said, "Adopting the Voter Confidence Resolution is an important step in establishing the legitimacy of our federal elections. I'm pleased that Arcata was the first City to pass the Voter Confidence Resolution and hope that many other cities will follow."

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