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2007 Patriot Award

Don't forget to join the ACLU for our Patriot Award Gala and Annual Meeting on Saturday, October 27, 6 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel in Eureka!

2007 Patriot Award

Whereas, The conduct of fair and free elections which use electoral mechanisms designed to accurately reflect the will of voters form the basis of individual liberty through citizen control of their democratic institutions of governance; and

Whereas, Voting security and election integrity have come under increasing threat nationwide from the use of electronic voting systems which lack adequate safeguards and electoral mechanisms that compromise the ability to share in the exercise of political power; and

Whereas, The Humboldt County Election Advisory Committee was proposed by County Clerk and Recorder Carolyn Crnich and approved by County Supervisors in 2005 with a mission to provide public input and review of local voting systems, electoral mechanisms and conditions under which elections take place in Humboldt County; and

Whereas, Since its formation, the Election Advisory Committee, whose members include Greg Allen, Dave Berman, Kevin Collins, Mark Konkler, Jim Lamport, David Ogden, Jamie Orr and Tom Pinto, worked with Carolyn Crnich, Elections Department staff and concerned community groups to defeat the mass implementation of unverifiable voting machines in local election precincts, a decision which has since proven correct after the mass decertification of unsafe voting equipment in 2007 by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen; and

Whereas, Election Advisory Committee members also advocated successfully for the rights of disabled voters and for an innovative new means of vote verification known as the “Humboldt Transparency Project” where the ballot image of each vote cast is preserved to enable independent citizen recounts of voting results; and

Whereas, Clerk and Recorder Carolyn Crnich has repeatedly demonstrated an open and accountable attitude towards the public and has expressed her willingness to implement alternative voting systems if and when they are adopted by local governments for local elections. Therefore be it

Resolved, The Board of Directors of the Redwood Chapter, American Civil Liberties Union awards the 4^th Annual Patriot Award to Carolyn Crnich and the Election Advisory Committee for their continued commitment and action to protect the constitutional rights and civil liberties of the people of Humboldt County in accordance with the Bill of Rights.

Dated: October 27, 2007

______________________

Christina Allbright, Chair

Redwood Chapter, ACLU

ACLU Announces 4th Annual Patriot Award

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

ACLU Announces 4^th Annual Patriot Award

The North Coast’s local Redwood Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union announces the winners of the 4^th Annual Patriot Award to be Carolyn Crnich, Humboldt County’s Clerk and Recorder, and the members of the group she chairs, the Election Advisory Committee.

“We are proud to recognize the work of Carolyn and her committee on behalf of the voters of Humboldt County,” said Redwood ACLU chair Christina Allbright. “Thanks to them we have avoided the mistakes other counties made with the blanket implementation of untrustworthy electronic voting systems. The new Humboldt Transparency Project makes the vote-counting process open and independently verifiable, a great example the rest of the country should learn from.”

Crnich and members of the EAC will be recognized for their work at the Patriot Award Gala for the Redwood ACLU, to be held on Saturday, October 27^th at 6:00 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel in Eureka. The gathering also serves as the Annual Meeting for the Redwood Chapter, where new and returning Boardmembers will be elected, amendments to the bylaws considered and ideas to advance civil liberties on the North Coast will be forwarded for the coming year.

“The fight for civil liberties in redwood country faced new challenges this year, not to mention the return of mass police surveillance of public areas as Arcata is now considering,” said Redwood ACLU vice chair Greg Allen. “I’m looking forward to another strong turnout of the local membership, not only so we can celebrate our accomplishments but also set new goals to bring Humboldt and surrounding counties into the kind of legal and social environment of freedom that we should expect by now, seven years into the 21^st Century.”

The local ACLU is also proud to announce the distribution of the first issue of its brand-new newsletter, the Redwood Libertine, which is set to come out quarterly. To find out more, call the Redwood ACLU hotline at 215-5385, or visit the Redwood Civil Liberties Blog at redwoodaclu.blogspot.com.

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Redwood Libertine Vol. 1 No. 1

The first issue of the Redwood Libertine can be downloaded at this link. To read the file you must have Adobe Acrobat available.

We are accepting letters to the editor for a new feature, Letters of Liberty, to start with the next issue due out January 2008. Please write to redwoodlibertine@hotmail.com with your letters on local civil liberties issues.