Hundreds of activists to demand paper trail... on voting devices - DC

[AmyStrange]

Hundreds of activists to demand paper trail and open tallies on voting devices
By Jessica Alaimo

FROM: http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/040506_voting.html
Hundreds of activists will lobby Congress this week for legislation to make electronic voting more secure and accountable.

H.R. 550, sponsored by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), has 168 co-sponsors, and proponents are seeking more this week.

The measure would require a paper trail from all electronic voting machines and would take measures to prevent hackers from altering results.

Most of the bill’s backers are Democrats, but it has attracted GOP support from Reps. Mary Bono (Calif.), Tom Cole (Okla.), Tom Davis (Va.), Phil English (Pa.), Michael Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), Randy Kuhl (N.Y.), Tim Murphy (Pa.), Thomas Petri (Wis.), Greg Walden (Ore.) and Frank Wolf (Va.)

For Holt, the bill comes down to one thing: Is your vote counted?

<SNIP>

TO READ THE REST: http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/040506_voting.html

[leftchick]

1. that is good news!

:bounce:

[ladjf]

2. this could turn out to be the best news of the Century if it starts

a substantial movement toward legitimizing our elections.

[calimary]

12. Besides that, it's quite telling that this list of republi-CONS has signed

on, too. Intriguing.

That can only mean one thing: They're reading the polls (and the handwriting on the wall) and figure they better get on board if they have any hopes of saving their skins in November. Perhaps folks like these feel it's important at least to LOOK AS THOUGH they care about this issue. Might win 'em a few votes - enough to save their jobs. If they thought everything was fine and they didn't have to sweat this because the public didn't give a shit and the tide hadn't turned against the gop, they'd be scoffing at this and filing it in the round file. But it isn't that way, so they can't.

MOST intriguing. I think the tipping point has been reached, and these folks realize it - much to their horror. They're evidently starting to notice the walls closing in around them and they're looking for a way out that'll at least make them seem like good guys. We know they aren't, and they wouldn't do anything like this in a million years if they didn't think it was in their own personal interest to do so. These are NO Mother Teresas here, doing something for the common good, or because it's simply the correct thing to do.

[goclark]

14. Best news in a long while on this issue

[Vidar]

3. Good show.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended!

:kick:

[Imagevision]

5. Bush started this election fraud business and it spread like wild fire

actually thru-out the world -- even in Iraq elections there were complaints of voter problems -- In November Diebold is going to be doing double time!!

[Pastiche423]

6. Another kick and recommandation

[peabody71]

7. kick!! nothing is important in a democracy without it.

[Zorra]

8. This is a step in the right direction, but evoting needs to be scrapped

entirely. All we need to do to make our balloting system transparent and verifiable is to use publicly counted paper ballots marked by pen. The solution to the problem really is as simple as this.

Canada does this very successfully. If it takes a little more time to count votes, so what? If it costs more money, so what?

No cost is too great if it further ensures the accuracy and transparency of our democratic processes.

[WhiteTara]

9. wow. I'm overwhelmed

we might actually have clean elections. I feel stunned. I hope that this isn't a cruel joke.

[AmyStrange]

10. UPDATE: Mr. Sancho goes to Washington...

Mr. Sancho goes to Washington:

FROM: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060407/NEWS01/604070335/-1/NEWS02
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho is joining more than 200 other fair-election advocates today in Washington, D.C., to speak out on election issues. Sancho left Thursday for the nation's capital and plans to return this weekend. Common Cause and other organizations are holding a news conference and meeting with members of Congress to lobby for a bill that would require voting systems to have paper trails.

[bklyncowgirl]

11. I'm proud to say that Rush Holt is my Congressman

If the Democrats had listened to him before 2004 we might be bitching about President Kerry today.

[AmyStrange]

13. UPDATE: Groups want voting-rights renewal

Groups want voting-rights renewal
Conference call gives examples of recent voter discrimination
By Julian Pecquet
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

FROM: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060408/NEWS01/604080334/1010
With three provisions of the civil-rights era Voting Rights Act up for renewal next year, a left-leaning coalition is shining the spotlight on several states, including Florida, as proof that the anti-discriminatory measures are still needed.

In a conference call with reporters Friday, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and other groups presented a report by a University of Miami School of Law assistant professor that documents federal interventions in the Sunshine State over the past 24 years under the provisions of the 1965 law, which has been amended several times.

"A second generation of voter discrimination is alive and well in the nation," said Nancy Zirkin, deputy director of the Leadership Conference.

Renewal is important, especially at a time of polarized politics, Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho said.

<SNIP>

TO READ THE REST: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060408/NEWS01/604080334/1010

Contact Julian Pecquet at [phone] or [e-mail].

Originally published April 8, 2006

Copyright ©2006 Tallahassee Democrat.

[me b zola]

15. The return to democracy? Now that is an idea that I can get behind

We must be able to verify elections. Period.

[dchill]

16. OK, that's great, but don't EVER forget...

that the Republican party will NEVER want verified voting for everyone. They could never win a fair election.

[Psephos]

17. AWESOME !! nt