Guest Blogged by Bob Bancroft of VotersUnite
Just over a month has passed since California Secretary of State Bowen’s ground-breaking “Top to Bottom” review was made public. The study, conducted over the course of nearly half a year, took a comprehensive look at electronic voting machines that directly record and tabulate votes. The results were unambiguous.
According to the report, “all systems analyzed were inadequate to ensure accuracy and integrity of the election results”. Computer scientists found that the secret software “contains serious design flaws that…attackers could exploit to affect election outcomes.” Despite the oft-cited rationale that e-voting expands the franchise for people with disabilities, the report starkly concluded that “[N]one met the accessibility requirements of current law”.
This report, along with countless others, leaves little doubt as to the correct course of action. As the New York Times put it in a recent editorial, “Electronic voting has been an abysmal failure.” The editors of “The Paper of Record” joined election integrity activists and watchdog groups across the country in calling upon Congress to ban these machines.
In fact, some members of Congress have caught on. Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) said in a recent statement, “The wealth of data and opinions on this topic are so strong that I feel Congress would be remiss if we do not allow a debate on the question of whether and how Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting Machines should be used in federal elections.”
Despite all of this, Democratic House leadership continues to push Rep. Rush Holt’s HR 811, a bill so badly compromised that one member of the powerful House Rules Committee reportedly referred to it as “Microsoft 811″. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) was referring to the fact that some of the bill’s most vital protections were stripped, replaced by new, vendor-friendly language allegedly supplied by Microsoft.
So it seems the most vocal opposition to this Democrat-sponsored bill comes from fellow Democrats. The irony was not lost on House Republicans, who took some satisfaction pointing out the in-fighting. All of this begs the question: why does House leadership continue its stubborn support of e-voting?
Only Majority Leader Steny Hoyer knows for certain.
Unfortunately, after months of repeated calls to his office, neither he nor his staff has ever responded to our inquiries. Instead, when the bill was rumored to be in jeopardy earlier this year, Hoyer enlisted People for the American Way (PFAW) to rewrite it, behind closed doors.
In a show of inexplicable loyalty to this failed technology, Hoyer and PFAW apparently concluded that attaching cash-register style thermal printers to Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting devices would somehow fix the problem. These printers failed a recent study at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) so badly that the state’s Superior Court immediately declared, “This is a crisis.”
Exactly right: this is a crisis. Millions of Americans will cast their virtual ballots on election simulators in 2008, unless action is taken now.
House Democrats have a unique opportunity to renew their covenant with the American people. They can do this, not with vendor concessions or wasteful add-ons, but by demonstrating that they understand the solemn trust we place in them, and the mechanism by which we secure that trust.
We need a clean, buck-stops-here bill to phase out DRE voting equipment from our elections. This is not about technology; this is about our civil right to vote and have that vote be counted as we cast it. Steps should be taken, in consultation with local election officials, to conduct this replacement in an orderly and fully-funded manner.
Would an end to e-voting solve all problems? No. But such decisive action would show that this House has its priorities in order. There is no single step that could do more to restore the integrity of, and public confidence in, our elections today.
CONTACT
House Leadership:
NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), Speaker
Phone: (202) 225-4965
Fax: (202) 225-4188
STENY HOYER (D-MD), Majority Leader
Phone: (202) 225-4131
Fax: (202) 225-4300
What in God’s name is it with the Democratic leadership? Don’t they know they would have veto-proof majorities in both houses and that Bush would never have been inaugurated if the votes had been counted correctly? They either have something to hide, or they are literally terrorized. I think it is the latter. There are Republicans dying in Florida, and there are rumors about huge pedophilic prostitution rings involving elected officials.
Anyway, there is something that isn’t on the up and up, because why wouldn’t the Democratic leadership want to win more elections?
Bob, Brad, and John,
My representative responded to my four inquiries last week about HR 811 with this paragraph which I copied from her letter to me that also addressed some of my inquiries from previous and unrelated letters about NCLB:
“As you may know, I am an original cosponsor of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, which would amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified paper ballot for each vote cast and that individuals with disabilities are provided equivalent accessibility and voter verification. The bill requires voters to confirm that their paper ballots, when produced by voting machines, are accurate before leaving the voting booth. Regarding your concerns with this bill, you might be interested to know that I support several pieces of legislation that address your concerns. Last Congress, for example, I cosponsored the Paper Ballot Act of 2006 to require hand-counted paper ballots for presidential elections. Additional legislation may be introduced to ensure that election-related information is made publicly available and transparent. Please know that I will keep your concerns in mind as I continue to make election reform security a priority in the 110th Congress.”
I’m interested in hearing anyone’s responses to this paragraph.
When will people wake up and figure out that some of the Democratic leaders are just as bad at “Corprorate Love and money” as the Republicans…? You would think after being fooled time and again….people would actually look up the platforms of these candidates…get to know how you favorite candidate really feels about Democracy…research like your country depended on it…heres a real good link, to start with…….find out what the DLC is really up too…….!http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090607J.shtml#
P.S. check out Hilary Clinton and the “Fellowship” another fundamentalist Evangical crowd..she really is a “Bush Lite”
How much more plain could it be that any Representative or Senator allowing the continued use of DREs supports corporations over WE THE PEOPLE, and in doing so no longer supports Democracy. These treasonous piece of crap machines have been exposed and for any Congress person to not take immediate action is treason! I know when I made my calls I specifically asked each to take the time to personally read Bowen’s reports or at least the summaries. There simply is no excuse for wasting any more tax payer money or precious time before the next election on corporations we should be suing to get our money back from. Adding printers and keeping source code reviewable only to more corporate “experts” are disease infested bandaids. There is enough money and time to make the switch to systems using real ballots and they know it. Anyone saying different is lying or stupidly uninformed at this point.
Oh yeah, and lets keep the EAC which has played a HUGE role in bringing us to this crisis point, so they can continue to help install more democratically challenged leaders.
One area that BradBlog does not adequately cover in this controversy is the apparent extent that the Secretaries of State and local election officials have lobbied against our, the voters, interests. I saw this point made in an AP article at Truthout. It seems that there is an attempt by vested interests to create a corrupt Election Technology-Industrial Complex like we already suffer from already from the Military-Industrial Complex and the less well known Prison-Industrial Complex.
Once an industry gets established to lobby aggressively for its own interests, it becomes politically powerful and subverts the interests of the American people. It is time we the American people put our foot down on the growth and cultivation of these corrupt, insider-political interest groups in this country for our own economic, political, and physical survival.
Hoyer was one of the originals responsible for HAVA:
Representative Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio)
Representative Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.)
The above also wrote the “Dear Colleague” letters, trying to get congress to ignore the concerns of voting activists.
Hoyer is also a Maryland representative, and there is a long history of voting problems with Maryland, Lamone, and all that.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
This about sums it up. And wow, its free!
“yes I plagiarized this” Happy 911 everyone!!!!!!!!!!!
TAKING ACTION AGAINST
THE “NORTH AMERICAN UNION”
____________________________________________________________________
The exceptional deception being generated right now in reference to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America still has a great majority of people in America, Canada and Mexico completely in the dark about the true nature of this “partnership”. In fact, the fourth wing of the US government, the News Media, has and continues to avoid this issue as much as possible.
__________________________________
ACTION ONE:
__________________________________
Everyone should read the article by Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D below:
http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin49.htm
Dr. Vieira’s summation is as follows:
“NO constitutional grounds for a North American Union exist. Indeed, the whole project is patently illegal. That fact, however, will prove to be of merely theoretical significance unless WE THE PEOPLE oppose the creation of a North American Union with every form of exposure, denunciation, protest, obstruction, and resistance that the Constitution permits. And as soon as possible. For all the evidence indicates that the Establishment considers the North American Union a top priority, its foundations at the least to be poured into place with the next few years.”
Everyone should send this article to their Congressman, as it details in plain terms that, based on the Constitution, none of the US States can ever be merged with Foreign Counties. Period.
Most state legislators do not even know this. It is your job to inform them.
__________________________________
ACTION TWO:
__________________________________
Support Ron Paul 2008
Congressman Dr. Ron Paul, though sadly holding traditional conservative Christian beliefs, including an anti-abortion position, is still by far the most outstanding candidate in the 2008 elections. He is the only candidate that is not owned by the corporations.
Not only has he proposed legislation to ABOLISH THE FEDERAL RESERVE and ELIMINATE THE INCOME TAX & IRS (!), he is also completely aware of and OPPOSED TO THE NORTH AMERICAN UNION.
The three points addressed in the above paragraph are of paramount importance in a very immediate sense. Dr. Paul truly understands these issues and is the first candidate in roughly 50 years who has had the courage to stand up against the banking, corporate fascist elite which are carving the world up for themselves.
For those who think it is impossible for Ron Paul to win the election, I would like to point out that even though the silence regarding Dr. Paul is deafening from the mainstream media, Dr. Paul has won nearly all Debate Polls and Straw Polls, including the most recent in Maryland.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/
One correction: the TTB did not take close to half a year… but took about 1.5 months. Big difference
Hil-arious. Ron Paul. Call me when the shuttle lands you freaking kooks.
Linda #2 –
Re: your Congress Members statement:
He/she is wrong. It doesn’t require a paper ballot. He/she needs to educate him/herself. He/she has been conned.
As to the Kucinich Paper Ballots bill he/she mentioned, that was introduced in the last Congress, but hasn’t so far been introduced in this one. If your Congress Member actually supports it (which I doubt) why don’t you suggest he/she introduce it in this congress?
Beyond that, your Congress member is either full of shit or completely uninformed or both. No idea who he/she is, so best I can do is take a guess 🙂
Brad #11 –
It’s Woolsey, so she’s uninformed, unless she’s protecting her colleagues on Capitol Hill.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. When I first read her response to me, I wanted to just go ballistics in my response back, and I may still do that. But … when I return from my 6-day getaway to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, I’m going to put together a little piece for my hometown newspaper, which is her hometown newspaper (she lives 6 blocks away from me), and take her to task in a hometown-ey kind of way.
I swear, everything they say is intended to keep themselves in office, and therefore on a payroll, and the congressional payroll is a pretty good one. Are you aware that the only demographic in America that has 100% employer-subsidized health insurance, and really good covrage at that, is the demographic we refer to as our congressional representatives? I wonder … if we were to cut them off from health care, the way the rest of us have been cut off, if maybe they might put a little more effort into a national health care policy for all Americans, like the one in Canada.
Anon #9:
“Secretary of State Debra Bowen began her top-to-bottom review of the voting machines certified for use in California in March 2007.”
source: http://sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vsr.htm
That’s about five months.
One voter, one vote…everytime… It won’t happen by a quick-fix add-on printer or a snazzy new gee-whiz machine. Especially since eventually machines fail. Moreover computers can print one thing while counting another. The entire process must be overhauled, starting with election laws that allow people to decide the voters’ choice when elections go bad. 2000, 2004, 2006.
Lani Massey Brown