Guess Blogged by John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org
Congressman and Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), several weeks ago, had expressed his intention to drop support for Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-NJ) Election Reform Bill, HR 811. A week or so ago, he reiterated his lack of support for the bill, and his intention to drop off as co-sponsor.
Today, he has begun to circulate a “Dear Colleague” letter (posted in full below) to be sent to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi urging her to ensure the legislative process addresses the concerns of the many groups who have spoken out in opposition to HR-811.
“For these constituencies,” the letter says, “H.R. 811 falls short of its intended goals to ensure votes are cast and counted as intended by the voters.”
The Congressman is looking for others to step up and co-sign the letter, and asking Election Integrity advocates to contact their Congress Members to ask them to join the effort.
On a related note today the Senate Rules Committee announced that they would be holding a hearing on Sen. Diane Feinstein’s (D-CA) democracy-busting S-1487 election reform legislation in the Senate. This is the bill that will turn over our elections to corporations and the incompetent, compromised U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The hearing is scheduled for July 25 at 10AM.
Below is a copy of an email that was sent out by Kucinich’s office today, including the “Dear Colleague” letter now being circulated for signatures…
Auke
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Auke Mahar-Piersma
Legislative Director
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(202) 225-5871
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Speaker Pelosi:
We have been made aware of a growing concern with H.R. 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.
Many constituencies important to the Democratic Caucus, including but not limited to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, VotersUnite.Org, and Election Defense Alliance, have expressed frustration with our offices about the process and current legislative text of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.
These constituencies represent a broad range of interests that reflect many of the core values of our party. H.R. 811 now finds opposition from organizations focused on upholding the integrity of our elections and local and states governments. For these constituencies, H.R. 811 falls short of its intended goals to ensure votes are cast and counted as intended by the voters.
Below are representative examples of the negative feedback we are receiving.
VotersUnite.Org statement by founder Ellen Theisen
After more than three years of supporting election reform bills introduced by Representative Rush Holt, I am saddened to see the many severe flaws in the version of HR 811 as it was passed out of committee last month. June 11, 2007
National Association of Counties letter to Congress
County officials welcome federal lawmakers’ interest in strengthening the integrity and accessibility of our most basic democratic institution. We look forward to working with you to address the myriad challenges facing county officials in this environment of unprecedented change in election technology rather than exacerbating these challenges by enacting legislation such as H.R. 811. March 14, 2007
Before this bill is scheduled for a vote before the House of Representatives we urge you to ensure the legislative process addresses these very valid concerns and a substitute is developed that has broad, vocal support.
Sincerely,
Member of Congress
DEMAND A BAN ON DRE/TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING!
– Email Congress!
– Call your members!
See www.BradBlog.com/Holt for more details, coverage, talking points & information on all of the above!
S-1487 is hopefully going to die in committee.
HR 811, as currently written, fails to ban dangerous electronic touch-screen (DRE) voting systems. It has been shown on the news that an ellection can easily be flipped without a trace on the software. This situation is out of control and if this bill passes as is, we can on longer trust election results.
Dredd said “S-1487 is hopefully going to die in commitee.” Do you have any information that would shine light on the fate of this bill?
Teritlooze #3
S. 559 is the compliment to HR 811, not S. 1487, so it is likely to be seen as superfluous.
The congress is busy with oversight and the Iraq war. They are in a constitutional crisis mode, and superfluous things are going to the end of the line.
They are looping back and refining the process on contempt proceedings.
It is likely to get nasty.
The GOP is not jumping up and down happy about all of this, and would elect none of the above.
Once again, Kucinich attempts to reach across the aisle and ask that elected officials stand up and respond as a matter of conscience, ethics, and public interest.
Poor man – when will he learn that integrity has no place in D.C.? At least if he has that epiphany, he might be inclined (and still have time) to line his pockets and have a comfortable retirement after years of his party letting him down.
I mean, after all, everyone else is doing it. Who knows? His poll number might go up! (Despite the fact that they should be).
I’m emailing my reps. now. Could we have a posting of the best phone numbers and e mail addresses and phone call and write this month? I’ve noticed a lot of awful stuff is slipped in when WE are looking somewhere else. Election fraud…a bi partisan effort.
The DRE companies are getting help to stay in business from an unlikely camp: that of their sworn political adversaries, e-voting activists.
I’m on the emailing list of dozens of election-related web sites. Two recent alerts caught my attention. First there was the request that folks not only ask their representatives to vote against HR 811, but shun People for the American Way for their support of the bill.(Might have come from this blog or VR)
Then today Rob, (or someone) at OpEd news sent a little blurb announcing that HR 811 may have been brought to a screeching halt, and wasn’t this good news?
And of course, the Kucinich/Pelosi letter…
What I find amusing (once I’ve stopped crying) is that these activists seem to be totally unaware of how beneficial their actions are to the very DRE companies they decry.
I wonder that any of the DRE companies (known as the collective ETC since 2003) even bother to keep lobbyists on retainer. E-voting activists are doing such a good job of curbing legislation that might actually change laws and raise the standards for voting machines, why would DRE companies ever need to lobby again?
But of course they will, and they have.
[Check out the letter sent by ETC-regarding HR 811 http://gop.cha.house.gov/fl13/E...LY17LETTER.pdf ]
It is easier to kill a bill than to get one passed. So, although, there are some bills that are a challenge to kill (like Voter ID bills spreading the country like wildfire) HR 811 was never a sure thing . The money and lobbying behind Electronic Voting is substantial””and clearly the efforts of those lobbyists are paying off.
And as E-Voting activists attempt to Kill Bill (HR 811), sadly they offer in its place, little more than words and conjecture. There are no alternate bills of this nature, being considered in Congress that activists can agree on. So basically the plan seems to be to kill HR 811 and any bill like it, and keep voting as we have been.
One day, rather than bickering and whining so much, maybe we as election activists can lessen the yacking and actually get something done. Wouldn’t that be nice?
I mean, with enemies like those in the e-voting movement helping to keep election laws exactly as they are, the DRE companies hardly have a need for friends in Congress.
Thank God for Dennis Kucinich and Mark Crispin Miller.
Amen. Now, let’s hope that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t sell us down the river again on this.