All posts by Nativegrl77

Safeguarding Elections In The Digital Age

Feuds in the Twittersphere… interspecies friendships… life hack listicles… there’s a lot competing for your attention online these days.

We’re the first to admit it—election security has not always been the hottest ticket in town, but after the 2016 election proved to be a watershed moment that vaulted questions of election security into the public eye, we were thrilled to see our work and the work of our partners garnering more widespread attention in 2017 than ever before. We thank you, and all our collaborators, for making a year of impact possible, for this is truly a team effort, achieving safeguards none of us could achieve alone.

As we look forward to building on our momentum throughout 2018 we share the following brief recap of some top accomplishments during this past year:

Verified Voting—experts in the spotlight

Verified Voting made headlines with a record number of high-profile hits in traditional and digital media—we’re proud to say the media continues to see Verified Voting as the go-to experts on all voting and election security issues. Here are links to a few 2017 media highlights in case you missed them:

The New York Times ran a sweeping front page story on voting system security featuring Verified Voting
The Rachel Maddow Show interviewed Verified Voting to shed light on the increasing reports of voting systems security breaches in 2016
The Atlantic profiled Verified Voting Board Chair Barbara Simons and highlighted her decades of work striving to bring attention to election security
Following Verified Voting’s involvement in DEF CON’s Voting Village, there were a total of 105 media hits – including the New York Times, USA Today, POLITICO, Reuters, VICE and more. The media repeatedly turned to Verified Voting Board Chair Barbara Simons for expertise on what the Voting Village was looking to accomplish and its significance outside of DEF CON.

Verified Voting—behind the scenes

A lot of our work takes place out of the public eye—on Capitol Hill and in state houses around the country. Here are a few examples of our most important “behind the scenes” work in 2017:

Worked with a bipartisan group of senators and partner organizations (National Election Defense Coalition, Common Cause, Brennan Center) to strengthen the provisions of the Secure Elections Act, S 2261, introduced in December 2017
Assisted the Commissioner of Elections in VA with resources and information to justify decertification of Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machines (DREs).
Participated in two congressional briefings on election security
Testified at a Georgia House of Science and Technology Committee hearing on voting system security at the invitation of the Committee
Testified in New York on the importance of routine post-election risk limiting audits at the invitation of the State Government committee
Provided technical expertise for the implementation of risk limiting audits in Colorado by organizing an experts group that reviewed and, on weekly teleconferences with state election officials,suggested revisions to detailed rules issued by the Elections Division
Aided in developing election data standards (including standards for election results reporting, voter registration information and cast vote records) as a key member of the inter-operability, cyber-security, election process modeling working groups set up by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Election Assistance Commission (EAC) as part of their Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) efforts.
Assisted in drafting a Risk-limiting Audit law in Rhode Island by working with local partners to explain RLAs to state election officials and legislators and by bringing RI activists into a weekly state audit working group
Helped advise NY state Election Commissioner about proposed changes to permit automated tools to help conduct post election audits in New York.

Verified Voting—raising awareness

As cyber security and election experts who understand the unique threats to our voting systems created by emergent technology, we feel obligated to share our knowledge and raise awareness in ways that help strengthen our democracy. Here are a couple highlights:

Provided funding and leadership to establish the highly successful Voting Machine Hacking Village at DEF CON. Verified Voting Board and Advisory Board members made presentations and provided valuable expertise to illuminate the vulnerabilities of voting technologies currently in widespread use across the US.
Organized a press call following the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on voting system security to inform and educate the press on threats to our elections system.

I was thrilled to join Verified Voting as President in 2017 and look forward to continuing to find new ways to expand our impact in the year to come. Thanks for your support this past year as we worked to safeguard our elections, we couldn’t do it without you!

Sincerely,

Marian K. Schneider, President
Verified Voting

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

When your candidate cleverly incites racism hate aggression and beat downs

02/06/2018 Nativegrl77

Hate Do people understand how a child would respond to this nonsense if exposed on a daily basis, do you see yourself in these people, were you there or maybe a family member was and how does it feel to see people reacting to the awful rhetoric coming out of the mouth of this man … who quite possibly wants to be a dic-tator Noracism

first posted 8/6/2016

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

BREAKING: DoL Covered Up Data Showing Proposed Rule Would Cost Working People Billions

02/05/2018 Nativegrl77

Protect the wages of workers. Take Action Now!

I am furious. This morning we learned that the Department of Labor — which has proposed a dangerous new rule that would allow employers to pocket their employees’ tips — CONCEALED an analysis by its own staff that showed the proposal would cost workers billions of dollars. Instead of releasing the analysis to the public, according to a report by Bloomberg [1], the agency’s leadership instead hid the information and claimed it couldn’t estimate the full economic effects of transferring ownership of tips from the employees who earned them to their employers.

This cover-up shows that the rule was never meant to help working people.And women, who make up two-thirds of tipped workers, would lose the most. The Department of Labor must withdraw the rule now — not only because it would cost working women $4.6 billion a year, but because the integrity of the rule-making process has been compromised by the agency’s deception. Tell the Department of Labor it must withdraw the tip-stealing rule now.

As someone who fights for economic opportunity for women, I am disgusted by the Trump administration’s attempts to bury the truth just so it can empower employers to steal women’s wages. Please join me in telling the Department of Labor it won’t get away with it. Comments on this rule close in just a few days, so now is the moment to make our voices heard.

Thank you for fighting back with me!

Sincerely,
Julie Vogtman
Director of Job Quality and Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

[1] https://bnanews.bna.com/daily-labor-report/labor-dept-ditches-data-on-worker-tips-retained-by-businesses

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Stop Puget Sound Energy from Doubling Down On Fossil Fuels!

02/05/2018 Nativegrl77

Puget Sound Energy’s long-term plan lacks the vision for a carbon-free future that Washington residents expect from our state’s largest utility

WHY THIS MATTERS

Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) most recent long-term plan lacks the vision for a carbon-free future that Washington residents expect from our state’s largest utility.

The plan projects that Colstrip will continue to pump coal-fired electric onto PSE’s grid as late as 2035! This flies in the face of trends in the energy industry, where coal plants are being forced to retire years ahead of schedule due to competition from cheaper and cleaner alternatives.

PSE’s long-term plan also calls for new fracked gas plants, locking Washington into fossil fuels for at least another 30 years. Equally alarming, PSE is moving swiftly to build an eight million gallon liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Tacoma despite strong local opposition from the Puyallup Tribe and beyond.

And they’ll be passing the cost of this reckless fossil fuel investment onto you and the rest of their customers.

TAKE ACTION! Call on regulators to reject any plan that does not include a commitment to get off coal-fired electricity from the Colstrip coal plant by 2025 and explicitly reject new fossil fuel infrastructure, including LNG.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

CCR ALERT, Everytown for Gun Safety ~

02/05/2018 Nativegrl77

#StopCCR

Friends:

we’re preparing to stop the “Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017” — a dangerous gun bill that would gut state gun laws — on the Senate floor this year, and you will lead the way.

Last year, when we set out to inundate Members of the House of Representatives with postcards from their constituents, you and other gun sense champions answered the call, and hundreds and thousands of people across the country signed them. Then, Moms Demand Action volunteers and supporters hand delivered thousands of these postcards to lawmakers offices to make sure your voice was heard, and it made a difference. After the gun-lobby hijacked a modest gun safety bill, the House only narrowly passed the “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.”

We can stop this bill in its tracks in the Senate and make sure it doesn’t get to President Trump’s desk. That’s why we need your powerful voice once more: Sign a postcard urging your senators to OPPOSE the “Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.”

It’s important for us to remind all Senators, even our closest allies, where their constituents stand.

The “Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017” is waiting for a vote on the Senate floor, and because of you, senators are already committing to vote NO on this dangerous bill. NRA leadership knows that their time is running out to pass this bill.And they also know that with YOUR help, we’ve loosened their chokehold on state legislatures in all 50 states, helped to enact gun safety laws, and defeated their deadly proposals that would gut our existing common sense laws. They’re afraid of your power and your voice.

That’s why we need you to use that voice now. Send a postcard to your senators: Tell them to OPPOSE the “Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.”

Thank you for lending us your strength in the fight to end gun violence.

Everytown for Gun Safety