Safe Vote Hawaii Hearing Tuesday, February 8, 2005 at 2:00 rm 325

[mahina]

Please come and show your support. If this is't important I don't know what is. (Except for the clean elections bill!)
My kind of crappy testimony below. I don't know the procedures that well but if you want to and haven't submitted testimony yet, no harm in bringing yours to the hearing just in case.
Aloha!
Safe Vote Hawaii - For further information visit: www.safevotehawaii.com



Aloha Chair and members of the House,

Thank you very much for considering HB 1740. I feel very strongly that it
is critical to confidence in our voting system that we have auditable paper
trail for every election.

If we move to a purely electronic voting system without an auditable paper
trail, we are exposed to risk of error due to malfunction as much as due to
any possible bad intent. No computer or machine of any kind operates
without some bugs.

Our already low voter turnout would be even worse if people feel that there
is no point in voting. At that point our entire system of government is
unsustainable.

For these and many other reasons I feel strongly that as we modify our
systems to comply with the HAVA act, it is absolutely imperative that we
make sure there is an auditable paper trail.

How important is it to have a verifiable vote? If it is not important, what
is?

During the recent Presidential election, more votes were cast in several
counties in Ohio that there were voters to cast them. Over 4,400 votes
electronically vanished from Carteret County, North Carolina. In Hawaii we
had votes cast for the Green Party in places with no Green Party candidate.

Our current technology does allow for a paper audit. How could we
rationally consider replacing something that is now verifiable and safe,
with a system that is neither?

Any money spent on revision of our voting technology must include a
verifiable, auditable paper trail if we are to continue to have a democracy
founded on the consent of the governed.

Mahalo nui loa for your consideration.