NYT OpEd: BBV/Voter Verified PAPER Ballots!

[nostamj]

With the help of $3.9 billion in federal funds set aside to improve elections, states have begun the move to electronic voting machines. The new A.T.M.-style machines are easier for most people to use and undeniably faster. But recent glitches in Virginia and Florida have revived questions about how to recount a computerized vote after a close or suspicious election. New machines can already print a total of all votes cast, but that is simply a reflection of the computerized tally. What is needed is a paper record of each voter's choices that the voter can verify.

The most reasonable answer is to require that the machines be equipped with printers that will produce what Representative Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey, calls a "parallel paper record" of the vote. That makes sense to us. Like deeds, diplomas and other vital public documents, the nation's votes still need to be preserved somewhere on paper.

more

and there's more to come from Krugman and according to the tea leaves (well, coffee grinds) in this cup here... there's something coming later this week...

[On the Road]

1. A Paper Trail by Itself is Only Half the Solution

the papers need to be collected AT the polling place to be used in the event of a recount. The manual recount is what provides the verfication.

Otherwise, the paper is useless -- it may have no relation to what the voting machine records.

[nostamj]

4. the way i read the editorial

they are 100% on the right track.

a voter verified, preserved record of each vote.

of course, a 'trail' is useless if not VVPB

[seemslikeadream]

2. Well I would sure like someone to address the people

who started these companies. Todd and brother Bob Urosevich getting the money from billionaire Theonomic Reconstructionist Howard Ahmanson and Mr Alex Kantarovich of Minsk, Belorussia, who owns Vikant Corp. in Chicago which supplies the control cards to ES&S. He won't say where the cards are made. He says he obtained his degree in the Soviet Union but he also got an MBA from Georgia State University and became a CFA charter holder in 2000. He joined Aton Capital in 2002 as chief strategist. He speakes Russian and English fluently.

What's with all these Russian sounding names and how and why did they almost get away with complete control over our voting system?

[rasputin1952]

3. Biggest question about "Paper Trail"...

why is Diebold SO AGAINST this?????

For ALL of the other touchscreen/scanner machines they produce, from ATM's to Store Scanners...there is ALWAYS a paper trail!

Yet, when it comes to voting machines, we are suypposed to "Trust" them. Nobody else does...banks, chain stores, grocery stores, mom and pop stores......NOBODY! But the American public is supposed to just blindly accept that these people are so honest it is wrong to question them.

HOLY CRAP! NOBODT trusts these machines, that is why there is paper verification. Are we so stupid as to allow these people to be trusted with our VOTES, when we can't trust a machine for a $20 transaction?


O8)

[Stephanie]

5. This is incredible! Look at how far we've come on this issue!

A year ago no one knew what we were talking about - now it's the lead editorial in the paper of record. AMAZING! We might actually beat them on this.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Let's hope somethin really comes of it

NY Times is talking about it. So is USATODAY.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1206-06.htm

[nostamj]

7. stay tuned...

as i suggest in the first post... there are more stories to come.

krugman will follow up. it was a HUGE issue at the FL Convention. the candidates will HAVE to address it. they did in FL. they named DIEBOLD....

it ain't going away.

www.blackboxvoting.org

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. That's great news! :)

Glad it won't fade from the headlines.

[BeFree]

8. Paper Ballots

The vote must be counted using paper Ballots. We can not trust the machines to do ANY official counting. Not unless the source code is simple enough for just about everybody to read and understand!

They are on the ropes.....let's not let them get away with using corrupted machines to do any official counts or we'll be right back to square one.

PS... has this process been amazing, or what?!

[Eric J in MN]

9. phone numbers of people who can stop Black Box Voting

The Voter Confidence Act, HR 2239, which would require voter-verifiable paper ballots for touchscreen voting machines, is presently in the Committee on House Administration.

Ask House members to cosponsor The Voter Confidence Act, HR 2239.
Ask Senators to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.


Please call Republicans and tell them that Rep. Tom Davis III (R-VA), Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) are co-sponsors.

Please call Democrats and tell them that the bill was introduced by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), and has 84 cosponsors.

Ask the people below to cosponsor The Voter Confidence Act, HR 2339.
Committee on House Administration

Republican Committee Members
Rep. Robert W. Ney, Chairman (OH) Phone: [phone]
Rep. John T. Doolittle (CA) Phone: [phone]
Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers (MI) Phone: [phone]
Rep. John Linder (GA) Phone: [phone]
Rep. John L. Mica (FL) Phone: [phone]
Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (NY) Phone: [phone]

Democratic Committee Members
Rep. John B. Larson, Ranking Member (CT) Phone: [phone]
Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (CA) Phone: [phone]
Rep. Robert Brady (PA) Phone: [phone]


"It is especially important to get support from members of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, especially Republicans, since that committee would handle the bill." -verifiedvoting.org

Ask the people below to introduce a Senate version of The Voter Confidence Act, HR 2339.
Senate Rules and Administration Committee

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

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

If you need more information on the Voter Confidence Act, HR 2239, visit:
http://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=5996

[underseasurveyor]

10. I am SO glad that BBV is getting the long over due attention it deserves..

Yet there is another issue that goes hand in hand with the computerized voting machines, and that is.......
The scubbing of legitimate voters off the voter rolls.
_____________________________________
"Thursday, December 4, 2003

Greg’s Letter Printed In The New York Times

Re: Paul Krugman’s Op-Ed on December 2

To the Editor:

Paul Krugman ("Hack the Vote," column, Dec. 2) warns against the danger of computerized voting machines, but the real danger is the new, federally mandated computerization of voter rolls.

As he mentions, the disaster in Florida in 2000 was the wrongful disenfranchisement of voters.

Katherine Harris's office, using a computerized database with known faults, misidentified these citizens as felons, then purged them from voter registries.

Last year, with little fanfare and less scrutiny, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, which effectively orders all states to buy the computerized voting machines that Mr. Krugman rightly dreads. Worse, the law requires all states to computerize their voter rolls and purge those lists of suspect voters, à la Florida.

Heaven help us when President Bush and Congress tell us that they are going to "help" us vote."

GREG PALAST New York, Dec. 2, 2003

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=297&row=1
___________________________________________
Something else to think about and keep in mind.

[nostamj]

11. thanks! i didn't check letters today...

so true.

all the CHAD nonsense was distraction.

the CRIME in FL was the voter purge and electronic tampering.

i did not know about this new requirement.

obviously, in the hands of felons like Harris and Jebby, this is another guarantee of repuke fraud

[underseasurveyor]

12. Rigged machines are bad enough......

But if you can't even get to the machine to vote because your names been wrongfully scrubbed? GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR :mad:

Repiglithugs, I'm convinced, will go to any underhanded, devious, even heinous lengths to achieve their goals.

[Eric J in MN]

13. The Help America Vote Act requires that people be allowed

The Help America Vote Act requires that people be allowed to vote with a "provisional ballot" if their names were illegally purged.

Poll watchers should make sure there are enough provisional ballots before the election.

[RedEagle]

14. Who Runs Matters No if The Vote Doesn't Count as Cast

Kick!

[sexybomber]

16. Finally, some decently good news (nt)