Verifiable Voting Here

[OnBackground]

Credit is certainly due the intrepid activists at TrueVoteMD: the Campaign for Verifiable Voting, who have not only put on the agenda what many in Maryland thought was a Quixotic attempt to expose the flaws in the new electronic voting system and to fix them before they endangered democratic elections in the state, but may actually have generated the momentum to pass legislation. The Gazette, hardly a paper sympathetic to causes championed by progressive activists like TrueVoteMD co-founder and 2002 Green Party nominee for the House of Delegates in the 20th legislative district Linda Schade, indicates that chances for passage of legislation to improve electronic voting in the state are increasing. "House Ways and Means Chairwoman Sheila Ellis Hixson, who killed the paper ballot bill last year, told The Gazette that she expects some form of the legislation to pass this year..."

[aintitfunny]

1. We need a paper trail

All concerned citizens, not just democrats, but everyone who cares that their vote counts and wants to be sure their vote is counted correctly should write all parties. Local representatives, the Elections commission and the Governor. This is vitally important.

On Edit, the following is contact information from the MD Board of Elections Website, Linda Lamone is the Administrator:

Contact the State Board of Elections

You can contact the Maryland State Board of Elections in any of the following ways:

Street Address (Directions and Maps)
151 West Street,
Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21401
Office hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 6486
Annapolis, MD 21401-0486
Phone
410-269-2840
Toll Free
800-222-8683
Fax
410-974-2019
Maryland Relay Service
800-735-2258
E-mail
[e-mail]

[hootinholler]

2. Please frame it as a paper ballot.

A paper trail is too nebulous. In the event of a manual recount the legal meaning that the pieces of paper represent the actual votes is unambiguous.

I have no problem with a machine generating the ballot, but for me, the ballot must be paper, I must be able to verify that it reflects my intent, I must be able to change the machine count if it does not.

A random selection of machine counts must be audited manually. I suggest a minimum of 15%.

-Hoot

[aintitfunny]

3. Thanks

I will do just that