tagged w/ Marquette County
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Once again, the Diebold Optical Scan Voting System is in question for not counting all ballots.
(Marquette, MI) - Cathy Church, Independent Candidate for Marquette County Prosecuting Attorney, filed a Petition on Wednesday November 12, 2008 for a Full Recount of the ballots cast in the General Election on November 4, 2008 and posted a $400.00 deposit with the Marquette County Clerk.
The decision to petition for a recount was made after reviewing the total vote counts for Marquette County precincts, learning about voting irregularities within Marquette County during the general election and investigating the performance history of similar optical scanners used by various jurisdictions during recent elections.
Some of the information considered in reaching this decision included, but was not limited to:
Two absentee voters’ selections for a write-in candidate were not posted in the precinct’s final tally. (The write in candidate received 0 votes despite two voters casting their vote for the candidate.) Many voters had difficulty getting the optical scanners to accept their ballots and had to load and reload the ballots more than once before the scanner accepted them.
Different Marquette County precincts provided different marking instruments for the ballots ranging from pencils, ink pens and felt tip pens. When one voter attempted to mark his/her absentee ballot with an ink pen at one precinct, he/she was told to use a felt tip pen because the optical scanner in use might not read ink from a regular pen.
If a voter checked their ballot with a check mark or X, the optical scanner might not register these legitimate votes because of limitations on the scanners reading abilities.
In Ohio’s primary election this spring, the same scanners as used in Marquette County, malfunctioned in 11 out of the 40 Ohio Counties where they were in service, resulting in dropped votes. This situation prompted the scanner manufacturer to issue a nationwide customer alert in August 2008. Approximately 1,750 jurisdictions used the flawed system.
In Barry County, Michigan, a glitch in a computer program was believed to be the cause of a problem with the voting machines the first time they were used in 2006. All of the ballots had to be counted by hand after county officials noticed the optical scan machines scrambled the results. This glitch affected 15 of the 16 Barry County townships, including the city of Hastings and resulted in 1500 dropped votes.
Cathy Church stressed she has the utmost confidence in all the precincts, election officials and poll workers who performed their duties diligently and conscientiously during the election.
This recount request is based on the limitations of the technology of the optical scanners, NOT the election officials or poll workers’ work product or ethic.
The recount is also requested because to Cathy’s knowledge, a county-wide recount has not been done since these scanners came into service in every precinct in the county.
Cathy believes that the only way to measure the performance of the optical scanners is by a hand count of the ballots. As a candidate in the last election, Cathy is one of the few people permitted by law to petition for a recount.
Given all of this information, Cathy felt it prudent to petition for a recount to assure that all individuals who voted in the past election, and those who will vote in future elections in Marquette County, had and will have their votes accurately counted. A recount is the only method available to Cathy that will check the accuracy of the scanners and their technology.Once again, the Diebold Optical Scan Voting System is in question for not counting all... more
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Well, I finally met Cathy Church - who is running as an independent candidate for Marquette County Prosecutor.
A friend of a friend asked me to post her stuff because running an Independent means you need all the goodwill and support you can get.
I have nothing against the two major political parties - but I respect the gusto of people who do it on their own - thus are not beholding to the powers that be.
Tho I tend to vote Democrat - I never vote a straight ticket - because I like to choose the best person in each race - Democrat, Republican, Independent or any of the more obscure parties.
Plus Cathy Church is tough on domestic violence and one of my many projects fights family abuse.
During 14 years as an assistant prosecutor, Church sent numerous domestic violence offenders to jail. I have covered way too many murders and MI and GA that were the result of domestic violence.
Tho the victims are - by far - mainly female - there are some male victims of domestic violence.
As a guest of the non-profit Turtle Island Project, Lakota domestic violence activist Tillie Black Bear was speaking in Marquette recently - and that's where I met a friend of a friend who knew Cathy.
It's kind of ironic how I finally met Cathy Church.
I was telling a fishing buddy that I was posting info about her Independent campaign for prosecutor - and as the words came out of my mouth - there was Cathy's campaign vehicle and her mother.
We turned around - met Cathy - and I ended up taping an interview with her on Halloween.
That two part interview will be posted next.
This video is Cathy's message to the people about why they should choose an Independent candidate for Marquette County Prosecutor - instead of a longtime and powerful incumbent.
Church for Prosecutor website:
http://www.ChurchForProsecutor.com
Well, I finally met Cathy Church - who is running as an independent candidate for... more
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President George W. Bush's apparent lack of understanding on tribal sovereignty is examined by Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, executive director and co-founder of the non-profit Turtle Island Project in Munising, Michigan.
This video was made as Hubbard made two presentations on September 24, 2008 during the third annual UNITED Conference at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan.
This video is about infamous comments about Native American Tribal Sovereignty made by President George W. Bush on August 6, 2004 at the UNITY conference in Washington D.C.
President Bush was asked the tribal sovereignty question by Mark Trahant, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Page Editor, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in Idaho and former president of the Native American Journalists Association.
Bush answered the question but that answer was so bizarre it caused journalists to laugh:
"Tribal sovereignty means that. It's sovereign," President Bush said. "You've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity."
The conference involved about 7,500 journalists of color from the Native American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Asian-American Journalists Association
Hubbard said it's funny, scary and sad that President George W. Bush doesn't understand the important issue of Native American tribal sovereignty.
The Turtle Island Project thanks Democracy Now for the use of their video of President Bush's remarks on tribal sovereignty.
http://www.democracynow.org
Related Links:
White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS)
PO Box 227
Mission, S.D.
57555
http://www.wbcws.org
Javier H. Alegree
Public Relations Specialist
Media and Education
(605) 856-2317
(605) 856-2494 (fax)
Official website of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Sicangu Lakota
http://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/
Northern Michigan University (NMU)
http://www.nmu.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Michigan_University
NMU Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Avenue
Marquette, MI 49855
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies
906-227-1397
nasa@nmu.edu
April Lindala, Director
Grace Chaillier, NMU Adjunct Assistant Professor
Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux
906-227-1390
Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED):
http://www.nmu.edu/UNITED
http://webb.nmu.edu/UNITED/SiteSections/2008Schedule.shtml
Organizers:
Dr. Judith Puncochar, NMU Professor
906-227-1366
Turtle Island Project
Non-Profit Munising, Michigan
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Founders:
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard
Rev. Dr. George Cairns
Turtle Island TV bliptv
http://turtleislandtv.blip.tv
Turtle Island TV youtube
http://www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
Turtle Island myspace
http://www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
email:
TurtleIslandProject@charter.net
Anishinaabe News NMU Native American student newspaper
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies/SiteSections/Resources/NAS/NishNews.shtml
Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org
27 minutes into the 1 hour video Jesse Jackson jokes about comment & interview with reporter who asked Bush the question
Video & Audio - several formats:
http://www.archive.org/details/dn2004-0810_vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xVRXLgLxw
White House Press Release: What Bush meant to say:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040806-1.html
"Pagans in the Promised Land" by Steven T. Newcomb (2008):
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28405454.html
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28407494.html
http://www.indypendent.org/2008/04/25/discoverer-delusions
Lakota Sioux & Rosebud Reservation:
http://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosebud_Indian_Reservation
Native American Religious Freedom Act (1978)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Religious_Freedom_Act
President George W. Bush's apparent lack of understanding on tribal sovereignty... more
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Cathy Church, an Upper Peninsula advocate for protecting women and children from domestic violence, recently received the 2008 Sunshine Peace Award.
As an assistant prosecutor, Church put many abusers in jail.
The northern Michigan attorney has a long history of ongoing public service.
A longtime prosecutor of domestic abusers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Cathy Church (center) receives Peace Award from Doris Buffett (right) on August 9, 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Sunshine Lady Foundation was established in 1996 through the vision and determination of Doris Buffett, the sister of financier and philanthropist, Warren Buffett.
Church was honored as one of twenty extraordinary individuals who have worked in the domestic violence field and made a positive difference in the lives of battered women and their children.
Candidates for the prestigious award are selected from across the nation for excellence in developing resources and facilitating the social change necessary to end violence against women and children.Cathy Church, an Upper Peninsula advocate for protecting women and children from... more
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