Who Funds the Election Center?

The head of the Election Center, the group I have been criticising for taking money from voting machine vendors, is apparently not feeling too comfortable with the latest GAO report. I have posted an extended quote from Blackbox below. Pay close attention to the responses on BBV, as John Giddeon adds that the Election Center has apparently put a number on the amount of the center's corporate funding, and apparently a pretty good sized 10% of the funding of the Election Center is coming from the corporate vendors.

From the Blackboxvoting.org website:

Oct. 7, Black Box Voting was invited to attend a groundbreaking Washington D.C. event titled “Threats to Voting Systems,” sponsored by the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). For the first time, election officials, scientists, and election reform advocates discussed the realities of voting machine risks in earnest, without rancor or defensiveness. (NIST's Website.) The outcome of the meeting was an agreement to catalogue risks, and develop mitigation strategies. Not all participants were entirely comfortable with the proceedings.

“I feel like hanging myself,” said R. Doug Lewis Lewis is the enigmatic director of The Election Center (a private entity which has derided critics of voting machine security). Lewis looked pale and uncomfortable, but he was in the minority.

BBV Forums

Televised Debates

Great news! They invited me to the televised debates this Thursday. KCTS, channel 9, at 8pm.
Looks like when you start affecting the outcome of the race they actually start to pay attention.

Though, the voter's pamphlet no doubt helped a lot too. It's amazing to me that as a registered candidate, it wasn't until last week that I was officially listed, even though I registered back in August.

In addition I will be on KVI 570AM on Oct. 25th. Early morning show I believe.

Candidate Exclusion

So the PI just told me they were not interested in interviewing me during their endorsement interviews. Mark Trahant said "It's time to move on" and that the editorial board decided that I wasn't worth their time. Funny stuff. "We don't usually interview third party candidates".

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that it's not just about money, and campaign finance reform. Equal access to the media is just not a reality. From the day I entered the race I have been largely excluded from many many conversations, candidate forums, polls, and even the primaries. Today was the first day I've found anything about the general election even posted on the King County Elections home page. So from the county elections department, to the media, to the forums, I've been almost entirely excluded from a race I'm legally registered for, and then people turn around and say my candidacy is not viable.

Funny stuff. But not funny ha ha.

Polls

I just got off the phone with another event organizer, seems they haven't heard about my campaign. They say they don't want to put me on at the last minute. Another said, earlier today, well we are only having the top two from the primaries. Well funny, I wasn't in the primaries. So how is that logical?

But the problem is not that I'm not polling well. I get up to 7 or 8% in some polls, the polls that are mentioned to you in passing by other campaigns. And 8% is a big enough percentage to seriously affect this race. But the bigger problem is that the polls don't even mention my name.

Pollster:"Hi I'm calling conducting a poll of likely King County Voters? Are you going to vote for Ron Sims, David Irons, or other?"

Voter: "Um, ... Um, only two candidates huh?"

Pollster:"Ron Sims, David Irons or other?"

Voter: "Um, Ron Sims, he's the Democrat right?"

Voter: "Um, David Irons, he's the Republican right?"

Now imagine this, even when you as the polled "likely King County voter" if you respond Gentry Lange, Green Candidate, they won't record Gentry Lange, they will record me as "other."

You are not even allowed to vote for me in the polls. And they say I don't poll well.

Here's one blogger that broke down the King 5 poll honestly:
http://themoderatewashingtonian.blogspot.com/