New legislation threatens US voting rights? Is this legit do u think?

[msongs]

got this in an email from a group called VoteTrustUSA claiming legislation is proposed to derail voting rights as they relate especially to verified voter paper records. think it is legit?

"A few days ago, VoteTrustUSA issued an action alert in support of Rep. Rush Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550) as written. Now we have learned that a new bill, HR 3910, introduced by Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida, would render voter verified paper records (VVPR) effectively meaningless, while jeopardizing the ability of millions of Americans to exercise their right to vote at all. Its paper record requirement lets the States decide whether the VVPR is used as anything more than an expensive and meaningless placebo, while its Voter ID section requires a government-issued photo ID to vote in person, or a copy of it to vote by mail, per Homeland Security guidelines. We are issuing this new action alert so quickly because this new threat is so immediate that it is essential for concerned citizens to act now to protect our right to vote and ensure that our votes are counted accurately and transparently. Please respond to this urgent Action Alert today. Democracy demands no less!

HR 3910 could disenfranchise millions of elderly, poor, minority and disabled voters, who lack the time, means, or physical ability to make the long trek to wait in long lines to obtain the only acceptable type of voter ID. At the same time, by combining the questions of Voter ID and VVPRs, it would stifle the debate about the need for verification of the vote totals from electronic voting systems This is unacceptable. Every voter must be able to cast his or her vote without the undue burden of obtaining a government-issued photo ID and every vote must be recorded and counted accurately and transparently. Democracy demands no less. "

Msongs
www.msongs.com/clark2008.htm

PS - you can read our california proposal for a verified paper ballot system here: www.msongs.com/vvpb.htm

[newswolf56]

1. Very legit concerns. There was a denunciation of this legislation...

which (given Republican control of Congress) is almost certain to be enacted. The denunciation was either on DU recently (probably a link to a news report or editorial commentary), or it was an alert from one of the watchdog groups to which I belong: not ACLU because I already ran HR3910 through its website search facility and got nothing. The clandestine intent of the legislation is (further) disenfranchisement of Left-leaning voters; I believe one of the analyses I read (there may have been two) said Bush has already indicated he will sign if it is passed.

[never_get_over_it]

2. Any voting legislation introduced or supported by Tom Feeney

HAS GOT TO BE BAD period....this freak who unfortunatel happens to be my representative - now that's a laugh - has been suspected of working with a group to write software to steal elections.

I would recommend visiting www.bradblog.com if you need info on voting machine issues....

edited to include this url

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001894.htm

[annabanana]

3. Two big differences in the bills

1) The insistence on an official voter's I.D. in order to be allowed to vote. This would be onerous for a significant portion of the population.
and
2) (And this is the big one, IMHO) The states get to decide if the voter verified paper trail is the ballot of record or if it is just a feel-good, meaningless receipt with no official standing.