BBV: League of Women Voters drops support of paperless voting machines

[Kadie]

League of Women Voters drops support of paperless voting machines

By RACHEL KONRAD, AP Technology Writer
Last Updated 6:56 pm PDT Monday, June 14, 2004

The League of Women Voters rescinded its support of paperless voting machines on Monday, after hundreds of angry members argued that paper ballots were the only way to safeguard elections from fraud, hackers and computer malfunctions.

About 800 delegates who attended the nonpartisan league's biennial convention in Washington voted to adopt a resolution that supports "voting systems and procedures that are secure, accurate, recountable and accessible."

snip...
Bev Harris, an outspoken critic of paperless systems and a league member from Seattle, emphasized that the league fell short of endorsing a paper trail. Voter rights advocates are demanding that the machines produce a receipt to be kept in a county lock box for use in recounts.

"There are bills in Congress that would probably pass if the league came out in a strong way," said Harris, author of "Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century." "They didn't give us enough oomph to give us a lot more traction on the legislative front."

more... http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/9651048p-10574387c.html

[Trajan]

1. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ! ...

DAMN ! .... Bev ? ... You are such a dream ...

Congratulations ! ...

[Kanary]

2. Fantastic!

Never underestimate a group of angry women. :)

Too bad they didn't carry it through........ they could have been a real force.

Good going, BEV!!

:toast:

Kanary

[Merlin]

3. This is GREAT NEWS.

Thanks for posting, Kadie. (Why not post LBN also?)

A lot of courageous women put it on the line for this terrific victory. It's not all we wanted. But it does eliminate the last remaining plausible excuse by public officials for opposing Voter Verified Paper Ballots.

Since safeguards will not be in place by this November, we must now turn our attention to mobilizing an effort for monitoring the accuracy of vote counts wherever touch screen machines are used in swing states.

Stay tuned... !

[nostamj]

4. well, this is too big to be dumped so quickly

:kick:

[proud patriot]

5. YES ! !

:evilgrin:

[govegan]

6. Awesome!! This is a BIG development.

"My initial reaction is incredible joy and relief," said computer scientist Barbara Simons, 63, past president of the Association for Computing Machinery and a league member from a chapter in Palo Alto, Calif. "This issue was threatening to split the league apart. ... The league now has a position that I feel very comfortable supporting."

"My initial reaction is incredible joy and relief," said computer scientist Barbara Simons, 63, past president of the Association for Computing Machinery and a league member from a chapter in Palo Alto, Calif. "This issue was threatening to split the league apart. ... The league now has a position that I feel very comfortable supporting."

Despite the League's lack of clarity on the paper ballot issue, this is a big development.

[althecat]

7. I just heard about this by email!!!

And came to join in the celebrations... another one bites the dust...

Pathetic it took so long mind.

[ParanoidPat]

8. ATTENTION, R. DOUG LEWIS!!!

OOPS! :evilgrin: AAPD is next!

Thanks Bev! :) :toast: