Verify the vote- is your Senator on this list?

[Eric J in MN]

In the House,
"Representative Rush Holt and over 40 cosponsors have introduced a bill that would require a voter-verifiable audit trail on every voting system. It's called the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 (H.R. 2239)."

We need a companion bill in the Senate.

It would have to be introduced by the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, consisting of the following Senators.

If one of these is your Senator, please call or email him or her and ask for a companion bill to the Voter Confidence Act.

Republican Committee Members
Trent Lott, Chairman (MS)
Ted Stevens (AK)
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Thad Cochran (MS)
Don Nickles (OK)
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)
Bill Frist (TN)
Gordon Smith (OR)
C. Saxby Chambliss (GA)

Democratic Committee Members
Chris Dodd, Ranking Member (CT)
Robert C. Byrd (WV)
Daniel K. Inouye (HI)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Charles E. Schumer (NY)
Tom Daschle (SD)
Mark Dayton (MN)
Richard J. Durbin (IL)

Information from:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/fair_elections.asp

[BevHarris]

1. Suggestion on your sig line:

replace "paper trail" with "paper ballot."

Paper BALLOT, never paper trail and never EVER "receipt."

The paper ballot has more legal standing, whereas a trail has no legal standing and a receipt gets them arguing about a complete red herring, vote-selling.

Bev

Senator Inouye might be an interesting guy on this. He sat on the Watergate committee.

[Eric J in MN]

4. trail or ballot or receipt

I'm not trying to use a legal term and so it doesn't matter to me that "trail" isn't a legal term.

I don't want to say I'm advocating paper ballots, because that would imply that I consider touchscreen machines
unacceptable even if the voter can check a printout and place it in a secure box.

[JackRiddler]

7. Inouye? Not so sure

He later CHAIRED the Iran-Contra committee.

"We will discuss that in executive session..."

[HootieMcBoob]

8. thanks

I'll make sure I use "ballot" in my letter to Schumer.

[Wickerman]

2. Yes, my only true senator makes the list

Normie Coleman does not. Dayton will get a call. Thanks Eric

[Bushfire]

3. Kohl and Feingold have expressed support

if introduced into the Senate. Please folks if your senator is on this list, urge they introduce the companion bill. It really needs to come out of this committee to work.

[dusty64]

5. I wonder where mine

stand? :kick:

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. I emailed Senator Durbin. n/t

[RedEagle]

9. Yes, Ballot Very Much Matters

"I'm not trying to use a legal term and so it doesn't matter to me that "trail" isn't a legal term."


If you don't use a legal term, then the legislation won't use a legal term, and on it goes. Audit trail can get defined too many different ways, none of them legal, but time consuming to straighten out. Don't bet your legislators will know the difference. You have to be correct from the git go. If you ask for it, you should use correct terminology. Holt's bill could be tighter.


"I don't want to say I'm advocating paper ballots, because that would imply that I consider touchscreen machines
unacceptable even if the voter can check a printout and place it in a secure box."


No one is thinking that. Proponents of voter verified paper ballots are NOT against touch screens. They just need to print that v-vpb. When you make your presentation, you just mandate that every voting system product a voter verified paper ballot, that can be read by the voter without an interface, (except for certain disabled who need such help) and deposited in a secure ballot box. If you are asking Senators to run a companion bill to Holt's, you're asking them to require a paper ballot. Touch screens CAN produce a v-vpb, and several systems on the market do so right now.

You are spot on in getting a companion bill in congress. Don't let your good intentions get shot down because of some misperceptions. The opposition likes to claim that were are against touch screens, but that is blatantly false. We are against any system that does not produce voter-readable, verifiable, TANGIBLE, evidence of voter intent in a physical form (paper), that REMAINS at the polling place in a secure ballot box, so it is available for whole election audits. (Unlike the VoteHere scheme)

What is happening, is that I am seeing a movement against touch screens that count. Many people seem to want them to only produce a paper ballot for the voter, that is verified and counted by another system.

You will be educating some of these legislators. Be correct in the beginning and it will be a lot easier on yourself.

[Eric J in MN]

14. since my goal

Since my goal for the signature is to encourage people to visit that Electronic Frontier Foundation webpage and not to create controversy, I re-worded it.

was "Support voting with a paper trail. http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2821"

currently "Take five minutes for better voting at http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2821"

[mndemocrat_29]

10. I'll make sure to write to Sen. Dayton

Though I have a question: Will we need one Republican to vote up on this bill to make it to the floor? Which one would? Smith?

[Eric J in MN]

12. Kay Bailey Hutchison is decent

If Texans contacted Kay Bailey Hutchison about introducing a companion bill to the Voter Confidence Act, maybe she would.

[jpgray]

13. Dayton will be good on this, I think

I'll write him as well.

[mndemocrat_29]

11. For those of you who want to write to thank your House members for their

support of this bill (or want to tell them to support this bill), here is a list of all of the cosponsors:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:HR02239:@@@P

[Eric J in MN]

16. thanks, we should ask our Congresspersons to co-sponsor

Thanks, we should ask our House members to co-sponsor the "Voter Confidence Act" if they aren't already on that list.
.

[onebigbadwulf]

15. I'd rather see a completely

public internet counter.


Come home. see how your vote counted and how the votes of everyone in america counted.