Hi, I'm Erik van Mechelen. The focus now is auditing our local government. Enjoyment is also found writing fictional stories and practicing shin shin toitsu aikido.
Recent books include:
Not long after learning about the 700,000 missing ballots, a friend suggested running for Minnesota Secretary of State, but little was known about the role nor how influential it can be on local election outcomes... I certainly did not imagine learning what I did, which was that with elections, parties control the candidates and computers control the results while the secretary of state gives both cover.
In Minnesota, we have paper ballots, yes, but computer scans of those ballots are counted instead of the ballots themselves. There’s no clear path to reviewing or auditing the digital records and therefore, with ballots and records likely not retained from previous elections, it’s becoming difficult to even say, for sure, what happened. All this has led to the people wanting change.
Background
Erik began writing his first novel age 16 and later published Rise to the Rahz and its sequel, Sound of Stone after leaving corporate America age 27. He then wrote the two short books on his favorite board game, Diplomacy, the first, Diplomacy Conversations and then, Conversations with Barbosa.
Erik also writes a blog as well as a site about voting processes, and helps others write and publish books. Find time with him on this calendar.
To see what else I'm focused on right now, visit the Now page.
