Dear John Bolton, Have you grown bone spurs?

Dear Ambassador John Bolton,

I understand you are originally a Baltimore man, of solid blue-collar stock, born to Virginia Clara Bolton, a housewife, and Edward Jackson Bolton, a fireman. In due time you earned a BA degree from Yale, with honors (1). I am also of solid blue-collar stock from the Chicago suburbs. My mother was an administrative assistant and my father was an airplane mechanic, having learned his craft while volunteering in the Vietnam War. I assume you were similarly raised to value hard work and courage.

Both our fathers put themselves at risk to help others and to care for their families. My father used to relate stories of his foreman at United Airlines pressuring him to sign off on airplanes, but my father would refuse if there were unresolved issues; he wouldn't put the lives of passengers at risk. As a fireman, your father probably raised you on stories of irresponsible people who led to the fires that caused the deaths of others through their bad actions. It is the contentiousness of everyday people like them that permeates this country, men and women who understand the consequences of their actions and try to do the right thing for all of us.

For a long time now, you have been a prominent voice in the Conservative party, described as a forceful defender of our Nation and strong opponent to Russia aggression. But your relationship with Russia gets a bit twisted in recent years.

In 2013, while you worked with the NRA you participated in a video presentation, orchestrated by Maria Butina, promoting gun ownership in Russia (2). In 2014, Mercer, the founder of Cambridge Analytica, gave your Super PAC five million dollars. Your Super PAC then hired a company, founded by Mercer, for one million dollars to support the party and ultimately help get Trump elected (3). You have come to earn and manage quite a lot of money for the son of a fireman from Baltimore. But perhaps the cost was greater than the worth.

The company you hired was the now defunct Cambridge Analytica, and the contract specified "behavioral microtargeting with psychographic messaging" (4). designed to psychologically profile Americans, and ultimately, to manipulate them. You were one of their first customers. We later learn from UK Parliamentary investigations that Cambridge Analytica data was accessed by Russia and may have been used against Americans in Russia's disinformation campaign that helped Trump win the election (6).

This is the opposite of Democracy, by the way. This is mass social engineering. It is the manipulation of an entire society to affect their thinking and ultimately change their actions to achieve the preferred ends of one man. It is more power than any single person should have, and you really mucked it up.

You and Russia, and others who participated in this scheme were the real coup against The People of the United States. Now, we are simply trying to wrest control back. And we will, for as our founders knew, we, The People, are the true source of power behind the Constitution.

Our founders felt freedom and self-determination was a human right. My mother's ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War for that right. Later, our country fought a civil war that resulted the ability of slaves to claim the same right.

There is no greater American value than that of self-determination. Every word in the Constitution is crafted to achieve that end. We've shed rivers of blood to claim that right and you, who undoubtedly still feel love of country, tried to take that right away in some shady back-room data deal, subverting our free will to your choice.

This is a vile act, but it may be so new that we may not have laws against it, sans Foreign Country involvement. It is a vile act, born of arrogance rather than maliciousness, I suspect. Perhaps, your Yale education, your success, and your relative fame led you to lose touch with your humble beginnings. So, you decided your assessment of how America should vote was better than The People arriving at their own assessment, uninfluenced by psychological manipulation. This is the folly of a man who never understood that it is the combined will of all The People that brings the best results. The left, center, and right balance each other. We must make choices together.

Still, even your critics believe you to have a vein of solid patriotism running through your curmudgeonly heart. And I believe it too. But it has been dirtied up over the years. I imagine your solid blue-collar upbringing, your decades of support for conservative values, and your own complicity in the Russian attack on our Nation, all, combined with your patriotism, caused quite a storm of inner turmoil in you after you realized the full import of what you had done. Perhaps I'm overly optimistic and give you too much credit; it's a fault of mine. I even imagine you took the job with Trump to attempt your hand at damage control. An arrogant man would do just that, and that, in my view, is likely your primary fault that led you to this point.

Yet you left the job half-done. Tsk, tsk, tsk . . . My father would scold for that.

But, I digress. Back to Russia . . .

By the time of the election I'd say you were more than a little bit dirtied up by Russia. Perhaps you were even compromised. It is no wonder you adamantly avoid discussing Russian collusion with journalists.

You were recently called to testify in the Trump Impeachment hearings about the Ukraine scandal. In a letter to the House of Representatives, your attorney informs The People's House that you have much relevant information to share. But you demure, willing only to testify if ordered by a court of law. Yet, you freely share details at private paid speaking engagements about impeachable offenses Trump committed. That you scorn him is clear.

Many speculate you duck the hearings because of your pending book deal. Have you truly grown so far from your father's example that you would let Trump violate the Constitution freely, and let Russia gain further purchase in our country so you can gain more wealth?

I think not. Not now that you see how you have already mucked things up. You are arrogant, not stupid.

It's far more likely that you fear questions asked of you under oath, given your own Russia entanglements. Or worse, perhaps Trump or Putin has Kompromat on you. Why did Butina reach out to you for that Video so long ago? It was no coincidence, is my guess. Were you a mark from the beginning, identified as a key player in Conservative politics on her scouting mission?

Russia continues their disinformation campaign against The People to this day, and Facebook still collects our data and willingly spreads political disinformation. The People have not yet received justice for that, but I assure you, we've not forgotten. Justice will be ours in the end. If you played a part in knowingly sharing our data with Russia, there will be a price to pay.

But, let's put that aside for the moment and talk about your duty. Your highest duty is to your fellow countrymen.

Not to the President.
Not to the Office of the Presidency.
Not to a Party.
We are the Nation.
We are the power imbued in the Constitution.

If you are a true patriot, you owe allegiance to us, all of us regardless of party. You owe allegiance to us. together, as The Nation. You have done enough harm. It's time to come clean, damn the consequences to yourself. Let The People hear your testimony, sworn under solemn oath in the Hall of Congress, so we can judge this President with the full truth. Neither subpoena nor court order should be necessary. Only reclaiming your honor is required.

I ask you to remember the example of your father. Sometimes we must risk ourselves to help others. Your Nation needs you now. That should mean something to you. In fact, from your public statements, your desire to expose Trump is practically palpable. I suspect you have simply grown a bad case of bone spurs.

As my father would say,

    "Get over it. It's time to face the music."

My father, love him as I do, is not exactly inspirational. Instead, he gets quickly to the point. If that isn't enough for you, then let me leave you with this some lines from the timeless Mother Goose poem (6). It is well worth reflecting on.

There was a Crooked Man
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Imagine if all the Crooked Man had wrong with him were a bad case of bone spurs. He would only have to shave them off to walk straight again for the rest of his life.



In expectation of your illuminating testimony before Congress,

Lisanne Lombardo
Citizen of the United States of America
Advocate for Democracy and Self-Determination
http://wethepeople-liftourvoice.blogspot.com

**************

Sources

(1) Wikipedia, John Bolton
Public Encyclopedia, found November 23, 2018
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bolton

(2) Mother Jones, The NRA Welcomed Maria Butina—Even as She Worked to Arm Anti-American Thugs Abroad
By Mark Follman and Hannah Levintova, February 7, 2019
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/02/nra-russia-maria-butina-putin-crimea

(3) SLATE, The Real Value of Cambridge Analytica
By Carrie Levine and Dave Levinthal, July 16, 2018.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/john-bolton-had-5-million-reasons-to-work-with-cambridge-analytica.html

(4) The New York Times, Bolton Was Early Beneficiary of Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook Data
By Matthew Rosenberg, March 23, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/us/politics/bolton-cambridge-analyticas-facebook-data.html

(5) The Guardian, Facebook data gathered by Cambridge Analytica accessed from Russia, says MP
By Press Association, July 18, 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/18/facebook-data-gathered-by-cambridge-analytica-accessed-from-russia-says-mp-damian-collins

(6) Poetry Foundation, There was a Crooked Man
By Mother Goose, date unknown.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46948/there-was-a-crooked-man-56d22710e66f5

Behold the Light of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch

It was the second day of impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives and the Nation watched, transfixed, despite the President's supporters' attempts to avert viewers with dire prophecies of dull nothings.

Marie Yovanovitch, straight of spine and soft of speech, shared her tale of being victimized by the President's henchmen in an orchestrated smear campaign to have her removed from her Ukranian post. At times her voice was but a whisper, and the packed room seemed to collectively lean in as they strained to hear how Giuliani, Parnas, and Fruman laid to waste her thirty years of dedicated service to our Nation.

In quiet dignity Ambassador Yovanovitch spoke to the hearts of Americans. She gave her life's work to a Nation that sheltered her family and gave them refuge from Nazis and authoritarianism by gifting her with democracy, freedom, and the hope of equality. Through her, we see how Lady Liberty has blessed our Nation. By lifting her light in the darkness, America gains those who are grateful for that light and know the worth of that flame.

All this plays in the back of the minds of The People, as they watch Yovanovitch from the comfort of their homes, stream her on their mobiles in coffee shops, listen to her in their cars as they dash to soccer games or to the gym.

But it would be dishonest to pretend all admire her. There are those enthralled by Trump's myth of returning America to a more homogeneous facade, where people who are different are segregated into different schools and neighborhoods, or tucked away in prisons. They see her as a foreigner who has somehow made their own lives less bountiful.

Yovanovitch cares neither for her detractors' opinions, nor her supporters'. She is driven by her own moral guide and she answers to her own sense of integrity, her own honor, and her oath to the Constitution. There are few times in life where you encounter one so pure in motive and so strong in character that she easily concedes a point to either party when they speak the truth. For she doesn't see either party; she sees only falsehood and truth.

The Republicans desperately attempt to distract the audience with claims her words mean nothing because she didn't hear the President commit his crimes with her own ears. But, like her career, Trump lays their efforts to waste by tweeting out insults in the middle of her solemn testimony. He only proves the smear campaign was led from the top.

At the end of the day, when her part of this saga has been fully told, she stands to a courtroom exuberant with applause. As heartfelt as it is, it can mean nothing to one such as she, for she will measure her actions against her own value structure, not against the approval or disapproval of her audience.

And so she gathers her cape of dignity around her, as though to cocoon herself inside it, and immerse herself in the safety of obscurity again, now that her duty is done. Unbeknown to her, all eyes follow as she walks toward the exit. She doesn't realize that the flame she borrowed from Lady Liberty so long ago, burns incandescent inside her, and leaves a trail of light bright enough for an entire Nation to follow, for those with eyes that wish to see.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats will decide the outcome of this story. The future of our country will be decided by those who hold no party allegiance and have been looking elsewhere. But they just caught a brief flare of Yovanovitch's light out of the corner of their eyes, and now they squint behind their sunglasses and realize they need to focus on this story to decide the proper ending.

The truth is there for those bold enough to seek it. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch has courage enough, but what of the country?

Lisanne Lombardo
Citizen of the United States of America
Advocate for Democracy and Self-Determination
https://wethepeople-liftourvoice.blogspot.com

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High Crimes and Misdemeanors Are Not Always Crimes

Given the historic moment we find ourselves  in, considering if the President has committed high crimes and misdemeanors, I'd like to review what that means.

United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 4:

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Treason and Bribery are specified, but what of 'other high crimes and misdemeanors'? When the Constitution was written there was no written law on federal crimes yet, so other high crimes and misdemeanors can't mean only existing criminal law.

We create criminal law for bad things the average American might do. We do not create it for bad things the average American is unlikely to do. For example, the average American isn't going to litter on the moon, so we don't have laws against littering on the moon. In the future, if we have a constant stream of traffic to the moon and littering became a problem, we might eventually create laws against it

Our Founders were in such a position. They knew we would write laws pertaining to crimes as they became needed, but they were not written yet. Additionally, Congress, our legislative body that enacts laws, is the very same body responsible for writing Articles of Impeachment and for conducting the Impeachment Trial. So Congress is the right body to determine if a President has committed an act that hasn't been written into criminal law yet, but should be considered a high crime and misdemeanor. Our Founders added the phrase 'other high crimes and misdemeanors' to cover all possible bad things a President might do that deserve Impeachment.

Other high crimes and misdemeanors includes things like:

• Abuse of Power

• Violating Public Trust

• Bribery

• Treason

• Violating the Oath of Office

For example, the Mueller Report showed that Paul Manafort, Trump's Campaign Manager, met with Russian Agent Konstantin Kilimnik and gave him internal polling data, repeatedly.

Internal polling data is the contact list of potential voters for a campaign, plus information collected when people donate money, take their surveys, write the campaign, or interact with the Campaign in other ways. So it is all the data they collect on Americans, including names, addresses, phone numbers, social media account names, their policy preferences, their policy concerns, and other details.

This data on Americans was given to the Russians without the permission of the American People who provided that data.

The Mueller Report also found that Russia targeted the American People with a disinformation campaign, to benefit Trump. It is certainly possible that the data Manafort gave to Kilimnik was used to target specific Americans in the disinformation campaign, but we don't know for sure.

Americans gave their data willingly to the Trump Campaign, so it was the Campaign's data to use. But I doubt any American expected the Trump Campaign to give their data to a foreign power to use against those same Americans in a disinformation campaign.

There must be no law against giving American data to a foreign power without their permission, because Mueller knew that Manafort did this and wrote about it in his report, but he didn't charge him with a crime for this. And frankly, why would there be? I don't know any Russian Agents and I've never operated a campaign that a foreign power would be interested in. I'm willing to bet the same is true for you. This is not a crime the average American could pull off, so I wouldn't expect there to be laws against this.

However, giving American data to a hostile foreign power to use against those same Americans is a violation of public trust. It is a betrayal. It is impeachable.

If we knew Trump had knowledge of and allowed Manafort to give that data to Kilimnik, we could impeach Trump for that. But Manafort didn't cooperate with the investigation. In fact, he lied specifically about the transfer of this data, which is why his cooperation agreement was ended. As a result, we don't know if Trump had knowledge of it, or if Manafort did it on his own. Trump obstructed the investigation by dangling a pardon to Manafort, so we may never learn.

Owning personal data on Americans and then giving it to a Foreign Power is not a crime. Obstruction of Justice is a crime. Both of these actions could also be a high crime and misdemeanor. We could Impeach for both of these actions, if Congress and The People supported it. Conversely, if a President jaywalks, that could be a misdemeanor, but it isn't Impeachable. There is no way The People would get behind a trial for such a minor offense.

The difference isn't if the crime is written into law or not written into law yet. The difference is if the The People and Congress see the act as highly unethical and wrong for a President to do, and if they will demand accountability for that action. Just as we vote a President in, if they do something we find to be very wrong while in office, or even if we find they did something very wrong to get into office, we can remove them by an Act of Congress supported by the Will of the People.

Presidents get their power from The People and The People can take that power away if we believe a President abused that power.

The remedy is Impeachment, which is really the American People saying, "You did wrong!"

The remedy can also be Removal from office, which is the American People saying, "You did wrong, and it was so bad, you don't get to be our President anymore. We don't trust you with that power!"

We, The People, decide if an action is a high crime and misdemeanor, and we do this by letting our Congressional Representatives know that our future votes for them depend on how they vote for the Impeachment. Congress can also Impeach and Remove a president against our Will, but it isn't likely if they want to keep their position in Congress as they answer to the people at election time.

One caution though. If we do not Impeach the President for a certain action, we are setting a precedent that The People are okay with all future Presidents committing the same action. We may even expect the current President to be emboldened to repeat the action, or do worse next time, as wrongdoers often do. As the old saying goes, "Give them an inch and they take a mile."

We should not Impeach frivolously, nor should we ignore real wrongdoing. We must evaluate the evidence soberly, with thought for how it will effect our government currently, and for centuries to come. Impeachment is a responsibility we must use wisely.

My advice for all Americans is to watch the Impeachment Hearings and the Trial, without prejudgment, and discuss it with your friends and family. Consider the consequences of allowing that behavior to continue, now and in the future, with our current President, or with future Presidents. If the behavior is unacceptable, then Impeachment and Removal is the remedy.

Call or write your Congressmembers to let them know your thoughts and that your vote for them is on the line.

Remember, our elected Representatives, including our President, get their power from us, The People. What we give them, we can take away. In fact, it is our duty to do so, if they abuse that power.

Lisanne Lombardo

Citizen of the United States
Advocate for Democracy and Self-Determination

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Our Nation: At a Precipice

Today, our democracy stands at a precipice, facing the final stretch of a long ascendancy toward progress on one side, and the shattering of our Constitution in the gully below. We have climbed here together; some encouraging others forward, some throwing stones at our feet, trying to drive The People back.

Trump and Putin stand at the top of the mountain, taunting us with their shields of power and swords of corruption. Vultures perch on their shoulders, hissing in their eagerness to scavenge off the poor and the sick. Between them, Lady Liberty lies broken, with appendages strewn across the fireweed.

Putin is flanked by an army of bots and trolls, each holding faux news signs, trying to confuse and send us in the wrong direction. His pockets overflow with rubles, grotesquely painted with the mocking faces of his Oligarchs. Behind him, crouching in the bracken, the Russian mob waits in ambush.

Trump is flanked by FOX News on the right, hypnotizing many of us into believing we are not climbing a mountain at all. Bill Barr and his army of lawyers stand at his left. He proclaims Trump the King of the Mountain and vows none can touch him.

This is a rocky mountain, with sheer sides and rough ground that shakes and crumbles with each step we take. When we peer over the edge of the ravine we see a rushing river far below. Sunlight sparkles off the wild water, and we glimpse tiny rainbows, tantalizing us and enticing us into the cool depths. But when the sun dips low, and the water grows dim, we see the reflection of our democracy on the glassy surface, as though it has already careened over the cliff. We console ourselves with the belief it is but an illusion, created in the gray of twilight. But some of us wonder if it is real, and if we have already been mesmerized.

We are but a few miles from the top of this mountain after a long and arduous journey. We have gained treasures of wisdom along the way. But it was not free. We've had to barter our trust and naivete to survive so far. Weary, we pause and strategize about how to best claim the peak. We must pass both their evil armies to knock Trump and Putin over the edge.

We grip staffs strengthened with justice, we wear helmets padded with truth, and we bear shields forged of compassion. Aching, and heavy of heart, we pause but a moment to drink from a pond of knowledge, then we march on, chanting, "Rule of Law, Rule of Law, Rule of Law."

Our foe is at our backside, trying to trip us, screaming profanities in a language we no longer understand. But our resolve is strong and our purpose clear. We are The People and we will not stop until we have reclaimed the top of the mountain.

We will wield our staffs of justice, and knock Putin and Trump off the peak. Let them sink in the river depths, amidst the scattered reflections of our democracy. We will reclaim the reality of our democracy at the top. Though it is obscured in mist, we know it still lives. We hear its heartbeat in our own veins, flush with drops of blood gifted from our native, immigrant, and slave-owned forefathers who battled to live equal and free. It is this shared inheritance that fills our heart and powers our lungs with breaths of fresh hope.

We will take our democracy back. You can't steal it. You can't strip it from us. You see, it wasn't a gift from our forefathers at all. No. Their gift was even more valuable. They taught us the power of self-determination.

That power is immense and is not bought by wealth or stolen with guns. It is a power so vast it has toppled every civilization that has disappeared from our songs. That same power has birthed each nation anew. It is realized by our combined will. We get to create our shared vision of the future, and with our shared action, we make that vision come true. Self-determination is the actualization of the Will of the People.

Hark Putin and Trump! We call on you. Come down off that mountain top. We are The People and we will make it so.

When you are gone and the mist finally thins, the voice of our democracy will ring clear across the mountain side, spilling into the valleys below and lifting up toward the sun. Our land will be protected by a wall of laws made by The People. And at the peak of the mountain where you once stood, defiling it with your corruption, we will repair our Statue of Liberty. Then we will light her flame anew with the fire of our love, so the weary traveler can find her, and so the world will once again see our shining light on the hill.

We will win because we Will it so. Never will we capitulate to a government of force. Our Will is to be ruled by laws, created by the chorus of all our voices and for the shared benefit of all. We will not be ruled by the fickle and selfish will of one corrupt man, backed by a murderous dictator.

We embrace self-determination. We are The People and our shared future is ours to make.

By Lisanne Lombardo
****************

I hope you enjoyed this inspirational piece. Remember, to effect change we must act. As Elijah Cummings would say, one day our grandchildren will ask what we did in this moment. Did we sit on the sidelines or did we act? Register voters, volunteer as an election monitor, join a call bank, find some way to act that works for you.

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NC State Board of Elections Betrays Voters

Last Friday, in a stunning betrayal of public trust, the Democratic Chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Damon Circosta, appointed by Governor Roy Copper, joined two Republicans to vote down two motions that would have given all NC voters the ability to use hand-marked paper ballots. The first motion would have made hand-marked paper ballots mandatory statewide. The second motion (a perfectly reasonable compromise) would have made them optional.

Instead, in several 3 - 2 votes, Circosta helped knock down both motions and allowed the certification of an ES&S computer-marked barcode voting system that will cost millions for any county implementing it and will prevent citizens who are forced to use the system from verifying their vote. Any county can switch to this system now, so every North Carolinian should be concerned.

What are Hand-Marked Paper Ballot Systems?

This is a paper ballot that lists your candidate options for each office with an empty oval or box next to it. You mark in the oval or box with a writing utensil, by hand, to indicate your selections. The hand-marked paper ballot is read into an optical scanner to count the vote. The original hand-marked paper ballot is saved and used for audits and recounts.

What are Computer-Marked Barcode Ballot Systems?

Voters select candidates on touch screens, then the computer or voting machine (ballot-marking device) prints a paper summary ballot. The summary ballot looks like a poor-quality receipt, listing candidate names with barcodes. The barcodes are read by another machine to count the vote. The summary ballot is saved for audits and recounts.

The problems with Computer-Marked Barcode Ballot Systems:

• Touch screens may flip the vote. This could be due to malfeasance or human error.
•  Voters must verify the candidate on the summary ballot, but many forget or don't even realize they are supposed to validate the summary. If they don't check, they can't catch errors.
• Summary ballots may omit party affiliation, so voters may miss if candidate selections flip, unless they have memorized each candidate name.
• Barcodes may not match the candidate's name & voters won't know because humans can't read barcodes. For example, the barcode could be for Warren, but the printed name could be for Trump. The barcode could be for Trump, but the printed name could be for Warren. 
• Because voters can't verify the barcode, these systems are ripe for hacking. We can't catch the errors. 
• There is a 3% error rate when the barcode ballots are read and counted because of the poor quality and nature of barcodes.
• There's no true record of the voter's intentions for audit and recount. The summary ballot may be incorrect.

The Benefits of Hand-Marked Paper Ballot Systems:

None of the above-mentioned problems exist. We know exactly who the voter intended to vote for and their original hand-marked record is available for audit and recounts. Additionally, these systems cost half the price.

During the board meeting two dozen individual citizens, independent experts, community professional programmers, and citizen advocacy groups spoke out against the computer-marked barcode ballot systems. In fact, the only speaker supporting the system was the representative of the system itself. The bi-partisan Will of the People was overwhelmingly for using hand-marked paper ballots and The People's concerns were completely ignored.

The vendor, in speaking for his system, had the utter audacity to compare the use of barcode voting systems with making a purchase at the grocery store. He seemed to believe North Carolinians don't understand the great responsibility of casting their vote.

We, The People, understand that choosing a politician who serves as our Voice on matters as profound as immigrant detention, healthcare, and war, is a solemn duty, not to be trivialized by equating it with accidentally being overcharged an extra 20 cents for a bottle of shampoo.

I ponder why a system that citizens overwhelmingly distrust and that costs twice as much as the system that citizens want, would be certified. Given the $92,000 ES&S has donated to both parties in North Carolina, my suspicions are dark indeed.

What Does This Mean for NC Voters?

Now that this unsafe system has been certified, any county can implement it. If your county implements it, you will have no option to use the hand-marked paper ballots that over 70% of North Carolinians currently use, trust, and love. Further, you would likely be stuck with this unsafe, unverifiable system for 15 - 20 years. And it would cost twice the money, which you pay out of your taxes. Counties that don't currently use hand-marked paper ballots, and who must replace their outdated systems, will likely be purchasing these unsafe systems right away for use in 2020. Since their vote counts as part of state and federal elections, their unsafe votes may impact the election outcomes.

Elected officials have no more sacred of a duty than listening to the Voice of The People who elected them, and to protect our vote. On Friday, the collective voice of The People was ignored. If Governor Roy Cooper refuses to hear the sound of my voice, then perhaps the sound of wallets snapping shut across the state will garner his attention. This life-long Democrat is canceling her donations to Cooper's re-election campaign and welcomes a Democratic Primary challenger until Cooper gets his priorities and board straightened out.