ORIGINS OF PSEPHOS
Psephos, inspired by the traditions of democracy, is an emerging nonprofit committed to preventing the rise of unchecked power in the United States. Psephos advocates a return to transparent, secure, verifiable elections where paper ballots are counted by the people.
Ancient Greek citizens cast their votes with pebbles and psephos (the Greek word for stone, pronounced sea-foss) came to mean a ballot or vote. Notably, Greece transitioned from a monarchy to democracy by creating the first constitution based on democratic principles around 502 B.C. More than two millennia later the U.S. Constitution and our young democracy are threatened by the use of electronic voting systems, secret vote counting and lack of rigorous public oversight.
ABOUT PSEPHOS
Psephos is a nonprofit firm whose services support educational, policy development and litigation efforts related to election integrity, constitutional law and the law and values of democracy. As a nonpartisan organization, Psephos does not support political parties but defends the rights that make political parties possible.The Psephos mission is to preserve the rights of the people of the United States to observe, question and actively participate in vote counting and all other aspects of their elections. Formed in April 2007 Psephos is based in San Diego, California.
Psephos is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit whose activities support educational, policy development and litigation efforts related to election integrity.
Profiles of Psephos Founders
Paul Lehto, J.D., was co-counsel in the high profile San Diego election contest (Jacobson v. Bilbray). Notably, this is the only case cited in the official OSCE/ODIHR international election observers' report for the 2006 Election in the USA. Paul Lehto is also co-author of a groundbreaking electronic voting study entitled "Election Irregularities in Snohomish County, Washington, General Election, 2004." His personal lawsuit against touchscreen voting machines that grew out of this study is now on appeal, on the grounds that the defendants argued in trial court that it was moot given that Snohomish County voted to abandon its touch screen voting machines in January 2006. Lehto has also represented election contests in Kentucky and speaks nationwide on the problems of electronic elections from the critical but under addressed perspective of democracy and democratic values.
