Sign Senator Debra Bowen's Petition...
By Brad Friedman on 12/2/2005, 7:41pm PT  

Debra Bowen, author of the "Bowen Amendment" (SB 370) which mandated "paper trails" for all votes in California, is now running for Secretary of State out here. She blogs about the now-nearly-infamous "Hack Test" that may soon occur on Diebold machines here in California.

She also asks that you sign her email petition demanding current Sec. of State Bruce McPherson thoroughly test such machines before they are certified by the state. I ask you to do so as well!

You don't need to be in California to sign the petition, as far as I know. And since what happens here will soon happen there, I strongly recommend you sign it.

(I recommend this because it's important, not just because she called me her "hero" during a joint appearance earlier today on KRXA 540am. Though that didn't hurt! ;-)

UPDATE 12/5/05: Bowen's office sends this information to clarify one of my statements above:

Just a minor factual error in your post about SB 370 (Bowen) last week. The bill doesn't require voting machines to have paper trails – another lawmaker did that in 2004 and it will take effect on 1/1/06. What SB 370 did do is to require elections officials to use those paper trails to conduct the 1% manual hand count required by California law to audit the results of the election – and in the case of any recount. If there's a dispute, then the results from the paper ballots are used as the official vote count.

Hope that makes sense.

It does indeed, and my thanks to Bowen's office for sending over the clarification!

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