Who is counting ... ?

It has long been one of the most exhausted arguments used on behalf of the protection vs the abuse of First Amendment free speech rights—The shouting of “Fire!” in a crowded theatre...when in fact, there is no fire.

Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).

in which Justice Holmes' exact quote is:

"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a

man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."

The operative word here being “falsely”.

The urgency that gripped me to produce this report was akin to hearing that shout of “Fire” repeatedly within my own mind; with every bit of scorching data I would unearth about our election systems,

the deeper my probe would sink into the smoldering research, and the louder it would echo again....

Fire!!

It soon became apparent that nobody else in “the theatre” was similarly alarmed. Everyone seemed to be carrying on-- blithely munching their popcorn, absorbed in the movie. They needed to be alerted to the danger that beckoned. A stubborn calling had manifested itself right smack in the middle of my already hectic lifestyle, leaving me no choice but to comply.

Due to multiple professional commitments on my plate, I was forced to barrel through this project mostly during the midnight hours. Engrossed in combing through the archives while everyone else was sleeping, both figuratively and literally, I spent nine months of midnights to collate the blistering information contained herein. Always with the sound of the alarm bells clanging in my head, warning me that time was limited....

Get moving, hurry along...but don’t push.

Along the way, I was graciously facilitated by trusted volunteer assistants who would sift through, edit, and format the volumes of late night email files in preparation for mounting them onto the website. And of course the entire website build and design was largely the work of one indispensable volunteer friend and ally who seeks to remain “anonymous” at this point. (You know who you are!) Much gratitude is owed to these wonderfully talented and diligent ‘angels’ who helped me to organize this project through all the stages of its development. It is out of their sheer conviction and dedication to the cause of election reform that ‘whoscounting.net’ was able to debut in the format in which it exists today.

I know that numerous other sites exist detailing our election equipment flaws and failures and the like, a good number of which are, in fact, excellent. My goal in this undertaking was not to compete with or duplicate any of those, but rather to compile the bulk of this many-sided story into one single user-friendly space, chronicling the yarn in a non-academic and hopefully objective fashion..

My real goal however was to shout “Fire” in the proverbial crowded theatre, where there is indeed smoke rising from the rafters and sparks spotted in the loges.

And to shout it loudly. Forget about the movie, you can always rent the DVD later.

My other goal was to embody the spirit of the Town Crier, minus the velvet knickers, and plunk myself onto this bustling cyber street corner – clanging my virtual bell, crying out—Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

If we don’t immediately establish an efficient, practical method to begin correcting the immense electoral crisis plaguing the election systems in this country, the consequences could be grave. The entire cornerstone of our democracy-- the right to a private vote that is assured to be fairly and accurately counted; the right upon which all other rights are dependant-- is itself at risk of toppling.

http://www.whoscounting.net/