Reply #6: Got it! Thanks

[MelissaB]

I. NO to Privatization and NO to ChoicePoint
We assert that the government has no authority
to contract with any private entity to control
data that could impact the public’s right
to a free and fair election. For the following
reasons, it is untenable to permit the further
consolidation of personal data in the hands of
one private entity, particularly ChoicePoint.

a. ChoicePoint’s Product & Service
ChoicePoint has access to about 19 billion
public records, and the company reportedly
has information on virtually every adult living
in the United States. MSNBC recently reported
that ChoicePoint’s databases on U.S.
citizens are rife with errors, yet ChoicePoint
offers NO way for a citizen to remedy them.
Florida’s Senator Bill Nelson has proposed
Centralized Voter Registration Recommendations to EAC
Northern California Contact: Sherry Healy, DFA-Marin <[e-mail]>
Southern California Contact: Marcy Winograd, PDLA <[e-mail]>

Centralized Voter Registration

Recommendations to EAC

We, the California Election Protection Network, composed of 22 citizen organizations
working together across the State of California to achieve election integrity, respectfully
submit our position statement on centralized voter registration. This document
seeks to assist the Elections Assistance Commission (“EAC”) in the creation of a federal
protocol for the most accountable and transparent centralized voter registration system
possible, while complying with the impending January 1, 2006, Help America Vote Act
(“HAVA”) laws. These are our seven recommendations and supporting arguments.
I. NO to Privatization and NO to ChoicePoint
II. “ Bottoms-Up” Data Flow
III. Sufficient Notice
IV. Paper Trail—Retain Current Paper and Ink Registration Book System
V. Website Access
VI. Removal from Registration Data Base: Minimum of 10 Years Inactivity
VII. Non-Partisan Management of Voter Registration
File: CEPN_Centralized_Voter_Reg SLTH052105
Centralized Voter Registration Recommendations to EAC of 4
File: CEPN_Centralized_Voter_Reg SLTH052105
a bill to correct this injustice; but to date, no
legislation has been passed in this regard.

b. ChoicePoint’s Ties to the Military
ChoicePoint has extensive contracts with
our military. In its wisdom, the U.S. government,
federal and local, has traditionally
ensured our freedom by separating the powers
of the military from matters of civic government.

c. ChoicePoint’s Ties to E-Voting Vendors
ChoicePoint has ties to electronic voting
vendors, e.g. ChoicePoint has a joint data
mining alliance with SAIC (Scientific Applications
International Corporation), and
SAIC wrote voting system security software
for Diebold. It is untenable that a truly free
country would permit the obvious conflictsof-
interest inherent in the nexus between
these three entities (ChoicePoint, SAIC &
Diebold)—who together—control election
software security programs, e-voting
equipment and personal data files on each
citizen. Whether this alliance is strategic or
merely one of convenience, where are the
safeguards to assure our citizenry that abuse
cannot result?

d. ChoicePoint’s 2000 Presidential Election
In the 2000 Presidential Election, the initial
proclamation of victory was based on
a margin of a mere 537 popular votes. This
is particularly disturbing knowing that the
NAACP soon thereafter sued ChoicePoint’s
DBT Technologies, alleging that their database
led to the massive disenfranchisement
of many Florida citizens from their lawful
right to vote. The case settled, but it was ultimately
revealed that ChoicePoint’s DBT
Technologies’ software had targeted over
94,000 citizens to be purged, primarily on
the grounds that they were felons, but that
only 1-in-30 of those targeted actually were
felons. Through the use of that ChoicePoint’s
DBT Technologies, over 90,000 citizens
were wrongfully purged from the Florida
voter registration database.

e. ChoicePoint’s Recent Legal Problems
ChoicePoint is currently under investigation
by the federal government for inadequately
protecting their data from theft, i.e., they sold
the confidential files of 145,000 citizens to
identity thieves. Also, ChoicePoint is now a
defendant in a class action lawsuit for securities
fraud, because two top ChoicePoint of-
ficials sold $21M worth of their ChoicePoint
stock before the security breach was widely
known. The case is currently pending in the
United States District Court for the Central
District of California. (The U.S. General Accounting
Office is looking into whether to
take additional action on these charges.)

f. ChoicePoint’s Concentration & Privatization of
Information
Information is power and ChoicePoint—
with its unprecedented massive data files on
each of our citizens—unquestionably has
enormous power. Where are the checks and
balances to protect our citizens from abuse?
Further, from an accountability point of
view, it is untenable that ChoicePoint, as a
private entity, may take citizen data—then
manipulate the data using proprietary software,
which is protected by “trade secret”
laws—and thereby render the data inaccessible
to public scrutiny.


Well, this was a test to copy and paste a PDF, but people really need to read the whole thing. :)