Call Hoyer to Pass HR 811 on Voting
By Sean Flaherty, IVI
This may be the last opportunity to take action to make the 2008 election verifiable and re-countable.
HR 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, has
strong support in Congress, but is held up while House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer negotiates more compromises – after months of negotiation
and compromise.
Call 202-225-3130 and urge House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to bring HR 811 to a vote!
Background
Unless federal or state legislation changes things, 13 states are
likely to use paperless electronic voting, either exclusively or
extensively, in the 2008 election. Among those states are Texas,
Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina.
A drumbeat of security reports, including California's landmark voting
system review published in August, as well as a comprehensive analysis
by a task force of top computer scientists and vote-altering glitches
in recent elections have proven this to be a risky and foolish gamble.
Many election officials are balking at the 2008 deadline, because they
don't want to go through a change of equipment in a year's time. That
is an understandable motive, but states have proven that it can be done
in less than a year! Florida is going to prove it by November 2008. New
Mexico, North Carolina, and other states have implemented major
overhauls in voting equipment in a matter or months. Most importantly,
the only equipment changes that would be required for 2008 would be the
addition of cash-register style printers to electronic voting machines.
These printers are not the solution, but they can help protect the 2008
election.
HR 811 is not perfect, and more will need to be done
to protect the vote if it becomes law – much more. See an excellent
piece by Matt Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
But without the bill, we could forced to spend November 4, 2008
watching the election returns and just hoping that electronic voting
machines across the country work correctly.
**Call Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at 202-225-3130 and urge him to bring HR 811 to a vote!**
Thank you for all you do.
Best regards,
Sean Flaherty
Co-Chair, Iowans for Voting Integrity
http://www.IowansForVoting
Integrity.org
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