Ballot Certification Process

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS:

Jason Sorens, President Free State Project, Inc. Phone: (828) 225-1951 Email: info@freestateproject.org Website: www.freestateproject.org	Elizabeth McKinstry, Vice President Free State Project, Inc.
Alan R. Weiss ECL, LLC Phone: 512-219-0302 Email: alan@ebenchmarks.com Website: www.ebenchmarks.com

Free State Project Announces Selection of Ballot Vote Certification Process

Henderson, NV and Austin, TX – July 16, 2003 – The Free State Project (FSP) has created a voting and ballot system for its upcoming state selection vote, and has selected ECL as its Independent Ballot Tallying and Vote Certification organization.

The Free State Project is a non-profit organization that is in the process of gathering 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people to move to a single state in the U.S. in the attempt to establish a truly free society. "Rather than continuing the same failed strategies aimed at bringing the US Government to the light of liberty, the Free State Project aims at creating liberty in a single state. With over 4600 members, the organization expects to reach the 5000 member mark by late July 2003, triggering the crucial vote. Voting will continue until September 8, 2003," said Free State President Jason Sorens.

"The membership will vote from among the 'candidate states' on which one to move to: Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, or Wyoming," said Free State Project VP Elizabeth McKinstry. "Once the group reaches 20,000 commitments, members have five years in which to move to the chosen state; however, some members have already indicated that they will move as soon as the state is chosen," she explained.

ECL is the leader in embedded benchmarking, benchmark certification and software engineering. ECL certifies the benchmark and performance scores for the embedded processor and compiler industries. ECL has certified hundreds of such scores, and is known for its fairness, honesty, and lack of bias as well as its abilities to create certification processes that result in repeatability, confidence and trust.

"Obviously we wanted to assure that our vote was fair and trustworthy, unlike the disaster that befell the two major political parties (and the American people) in Florida," remarked Sorens. "To do that, we wanted an independent third party to tally and certify. ECL stepped up to the plate, and we're delighted with their willingness to help. An additional factor weighing in favor of a rigorous certification process is our use of the advanced Condorcet Method – the election method favored by a general consensus of mathematicians and game theorists – in generating a winner."

"ECL is pleased to have been selected as the Independent Ballot Tallying and Vote Certification organization for The Free State Project, one of the most important political movements of our time," said ECL Chairman Alan R. Weiss. "ECL's outstanding record of certifying results of important processes will serve the FSP and its membership well, and we will guarantee the results will be accurate, fair, and without bias," stated Weiss.

ECL, founded in 1998 at the request of the entire embedded semiconductor industry to perform benchmark certifications for EEMBC (http://www.eembc.org), has grown to become the worldwide leader in processor, architecture, software, and systems benchmarking and certification. ECL also provides certifications on other processes and procedures. ECL's clients include the top 60 semiconductor and software companies, as well as industry consortia. ECL, LLC, with offices in Austin, Texas, serves clients in the USA, United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, and Korea.

The Free State Project has also attracted some prominent members of late. Among those who have signed up recently are Art Olivier of Bellflower, California, the 1998-99 mayor of Bellflower and 2000 Libertarian Party candidate for Vice-President of the U.S., and Michael Badnarik of Austin, Texas and Gary Nolan of Cleveland, Ohio, who are currently campaigning for the Libertarian nod for President in 2004 and both of whom spoke at the recent New Hampshire event. "The Free State Project is not affiliated with the Libertarian Party and has members from all parties, but our political philosophy – that at most government exists to protect individual rights – could well be described as broadly libertarian," explains Dr. Sorens.

END