I’m at the DEF CON Voting Village as Free Speech For People is co-sponsoring the speakers’ conference at the Voting Village. I’m sorry John got removed from DEFCON because he is an earnest advocate for evidence based elections. But I would like to provide context and missing information because there seems to be a lot of assumptions and criticisms thrown around based on his account.

For context, the Voting Village is an entity run within the DEFCON security conference that has two projects - the speakers’ track, and the Voting Village that provides voting machines that can be probed by any DEFCON attendees. The speakers’ track is co-hosted by the Election Integrity Foundation(EIF)  (founded by Harri Hursti, Matt Blaze and David Jefferson) and FSFP. The Village is run by EIF.

DEFCON is a huge conference with over 20k attendees and more than a dozen Villages. All attendees must pay $500 fee to enter. The Villages do not charge entry. The Villages are subject to all DEFCON policies and requirements. DEF CON has its own security staff and protocols that supersede any policies the individual Villages may adopt.

John has attended the Voting Village (VV) in years past at a different location and recorded talks. Private recording that may capture attendees’ faces is not permitted. For the past several years all VV talks are recorded and posted. This year they were professionally videotaped and will be on YouTube very soon so private recording was not permitted. John was told this and agreed to take down his recording equipment without issue.

Subsequently, he was folding brochures and Matt Blaze of EIF spoke with him. Matt initially didn’t object to John passing out his pamphlets but soon the EIF counsel determined that pamphlets could not be passed out in anywhere in the Village because they had not been vetted by EIF. The Village security volunteer told John this in a professional manner. John got agitated and raised his voice, arguing with the Village security volunteer. The discussion escalated, to the point that John was belligerent, according to an observer, then de-escalated, thanks in part to Jessica Densen. John was told the Village has no issues with John going outside the Village to pass out brochures.

John went outside and began sharing his brochure but the DEFCON security quickly intervened to tell him he could not hand out brochures anywhere in DEFCON because this violates both DEFCON policy and the Las Vegas Convention Center policy. John again got agitated, argued and raised his voice with DEFCON security, insisting this was a first amendment right, and they would have to arrest him to stop him. DEFCON security called the Las Vegas Convention Center security, which in turn called the local police. After arguing, he agreed to leave and they escorted him out, first taking him to the registration desk to give him a refund (which is very uncommon I’m told). He reportedly changed his mind briefly and refused to leave again, but ultimately agreed and left. No physical contact was made.

There has been an assumption made that the Village called DEFCON security, but all accounts I’ve obtained debunk this. No one from the Village communicated with DEFCON security before John was removed. Because the Voting Village is one of the higher profile and more sensitive villages, DEFCON security typically has some people outside the doors in the hallway so they independently saw  John, intervened and told John he had to stop. EIF did not initially know that DEFCON and the LVCC also prohibit distributing brochures, causing the misunderstanding that it could be done outside the Village.

The reason David Jefferson said “I’m not in charge” is because we, meaning the orgs running the Villages, are subject to DEFCON security measures and decisions. When DEFCON determined John should be removed, that’s final.

Because of the sensitivity of the Voting Village, and concerns it might attract violence, DEFCON security does tolerate disruptive behavior. John was removed because he was arguing and raising his voice to DEFCON security, and then to the Convention Center security, not because of his ideas. While we all know that John is not a threat to anyone’s safety, his conduct concerned the security personnel which led to the unfortunate removal. As a clear illustration, by contrast, Nate Taylor of ETA also was passing out information and was told to stop. He cooperated and was given suspension for the day but told he could return the next day. He did return and spent Saturday mingling and chatting and (I hope) enjoying and participating in the Village.

To be crystal clear, John was not removed for sharing information but because of his own reactions to being told that was not permitted. (I suspect if there hadn’t been the issue with John, Nate wouldn’t have been asked to leave on the first day, but that is my speculation. )

As someone who worked really hard on the Village speakers program, (which I think was excellent if I do say so, and hope you watch all the videos as soon as they are posted) I’m troubled that this important program has been marred by allegations that its anti democratic or tyrannical. It was anything but. We encouraged people to participate, hack machines, engage, discuss, challenge,  ask questions, and offer ideas.   But it’s not unreasonable to ask expect attendees to adhere to policies at a conference without getting argumentative and belligerent. The allegation that he was thrown out for his ideas is preposterous and insulting. Had John not been argumentative, he could have shared his ideas in the discussions, q and a, and conversation.

We are deeply committed to free speech and vigorously refute any allegation that we are not. Thank you for your consideration and I hope you will enjoy the videos when posted.

With respect and appreciation,

Susan Greenhalgh

Free Speech For People