[pjvoters2004] Verifiable Election Results

Friends:

In May, 2003 Representative Rush Holt introduced a bill that would
require a voter-verifiable audit trail on every voting system. It's called
the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 (
<="http://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=Y96"> H.R. 2239)
<="http://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=Y96"> . In December, 2003 Senator
Robert Graham introduced a companion bill (S. 1980) into the Senate. It is
identical in both title and text to H.R. 2239.

I would argue that this bill is a strong contender for the most
important one to hit the House and Senate in 200 years, maybe longer. If it
fails, our democracy, such as it is, is in serious trouble – it will not be
possible to refute charges of fixed elections. If Ohio's electoral votes go
to Bush, for instance, with no paper trail, who except Republicans will
believe that count was fair?

This should remain a non-partisan issue. If it becomes partisan, or
if the bill fails, it will smell as though there are incumbents who don't
want the assurance of fair elections.

Let's all urge our representative to sponsor HR2239, and ask our
senators to sponsor S. 1980.

Pass the word.

For more details, go to
<http://www.verifiedvoting.org/fair_elections.asp
<="http://www.verifiedvoting.org/fair_elections.asp"> >

To see your legislators' positions on the bill, click
<="http://www.verifiedvoting.org/states.asp"> here
<="http://www.verifiedvoting.org/states.asp"> , or click on the state pages
<="http://www.verifiedvoting.org/states.asp"> link at the above site. As
of now, it seems that neither of Illinois' senators (nor Ohio's) has taken a
position on S.1980.

Call Congress Toll Free: 1-800-839-5276

WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 12 Dec 03 Washington, DC

1. ELECTRONIC VOTING: HOW WILL YOU KNOW IF YOUR VOTE IS COUNTED? You won't.
After the 2000 election fiasco in Florida, election officials across the
country sought to modernize voting. This has meant a lot of business for
companies that make touch-screen electronic voting machines. However,
voters may also be getting the business - the machine codes are proprietary
secrets (WN 25 Apr 03). This puts vote counting under full control of
private companies, with no way to conduct an audit. If this isn't scary
enough, there's the fund-raising letter to Ohio Republicans from the CEO of
Diebold, the major supplier of touch-screen voting machines: "I am committed
to helping Ohio deliver it's electoral votes to the President." He is in a
perfect position to do so. A study for the State of Ohio, found 57 serious
security flaws in electronic voting machines. Our best hope is H.R.2239,
the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003, introduced by
Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), a physicist. The bill would require a voter-verified
paper trail for all voting machines, making audits possible. There are
currently 74 bi-partisan cosponsors.

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