Mandate Sample Hand Counts HB 3270

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IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS!

A bill which will require mandatory verification of machine tallied election results has been introduced in the Oregon Legislature.
Representative Mitch Greenlick has introduced HB 3270 and it has been scheduled for a public hearing on Monday, March 19th, at 8:30AM in Salem. Co-sponsors include Representatives Phil Barnhart, Peter Buckley, Ben Cannon, Brian Clem, Paul Holvey, Jeff Merkley, and Chuck Riley.

This is the most important call to action we've ever sent.

Click here for a PDF version of this email

Oregon ballots are counted on optical scan machines and the votes are tabulated using trade secret, proprietary computer software provided by private companies. HB 3270 requires mandatory random sample hand counts to verify the accuracy of election results.


Please support this important bill by taking the following actions:

1. Attend the Hearing and Testify

A hearing for HB 3270 has been scheduled for Monday, March 19th at 8:30 am in Hearing Room E at the Capitol building in Salem. Oregon Voter Rights Coalition will be testifying at the hearing, and we encourage all interested persons who can attend to testify as well. Please email us or call 503-281-0336 if you are interested in attending the hearing. A helpful citizen guide for testifying at the Capitol is available here.

2. Ask Your Legislators to Support HB 3270

Contact your state legislators and let them know we need mandatory election verification in Oregon and to please support HB 3270. It’s easy to contact your state legislator by phone or email!

To find your legislator, please use this website: http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/


Contact any state legislator by phone:

Within Salem, call 503-986-1187.

Outside of Salem, please call 1-800-332-2313.


Contact any state legislator by email:


Representative's email address: [e-mail] (example: [e-mail])
Senator's email address: [e-mail] (example: [e-mail])


3. Contact Committee Members

HB 3270 has been assigned to the Ethics, Elections and Rules Committee (EER Committee) for public input and deliberation.
It is important that you notify the Committee members directly of your support for this bill. Please encourage them to refer this bill to the full House for a vote so it may move to the Senate and eventually become law.

The EER Committee members are:

House Committee on Elections, Ethics and Rules

(Jim Stembridge, Committee Administrator: 503-986-1673
Diane Rosenbaum, EER Committee Chair: 503-986-1442
[e-mail]
Peter Buckley, EER Committee Vice-Chair: 503-986-1405
[e-mail]
Dave Hunt, House Majority Leader: 503-986-1900
[e-mail]
Vicki Berger: 503-986-1420
[e-mail]
Sal Esquivel: 503-986-1406
[e-mail]
Arnie Roblan: 503-986-1409
[e-mail]
Kim Thatcher: 503-986-1425
[e-mail]



Oregon Legislative Assembly
Capitol Room 454
503-986-1673


4. Write Letters to the Editor

Write a letter to the editor of your local paper and the Oregonian.


The Oregonian, 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, Or., 97201
by email to [e-mail]
or by fax to 503 294-4193
Limit letters to 150 words and include your full address and daytime phone number, for verification only.


To suggest coverage of this issue:

Michael Arrieta-Walden, Senior Editor/Online
Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]


5. Call Local Radio Talk Shows, Comment on Local Blogs

Let your support for election verification be heard on Oregon’s radio airwaves and online. An outstanding local supporter of election integrity is Thom Hartmann. He welcomes citizen input on election matters and often takes calls on this subject. Call his show or comment on his KPOJ site <http://www.thomhartmann.com/show.shtml>. Call in to any other local talk shows as well, and mention this bill. Election integrity is not a partisan issue, it concerns citizens’ rights and democracy. So this topic should be welcomed by any talk show host or discussion board involving government, political or legislative topics.

Call Thom Hartmann at KPOJ:

Weekday mornings from 6 to 9 am: 503 248-0620.

24-hour listener comment line: 503 323-6620
(Leave a message that may be played on the air.)


6. Thank the Sponsors of HB 3270

If your Representative is already a sponsor, please send a thank you for his or her leadership and let your representative know of your support for this important bill.


Representative Mitch Greenlick: 503-986-1433
[e-mail]
Representative Phil Barnhart: 503-986-1411
[e-mail]
Representative Peter Buckley: 503-986-1405
[e-mail]
Representative Ben Cannon: 503-986-1446
[e-mail]
Representative Brian Clem: 503-986-1421
[e-mail]
Representative Paul Holvey: 503-986-1408
[e-mail]
Representative Jeff Merkley: 503-986-1200
[e-mail]
Representative Chuck Riley: 503-986-1429
[e-mail]


Points to share about HB 3270:

*HB 3270 will improve Oregon’s system by requiring verification of machine-counted vote totals. The procedure is scientific and will restore and strengthen confidence in the accuracy of the results.

*Software used to count Oregon’s votes is secret to citizens and election officials. A hand-counted random sample of the actual ballots cast is a vital step toward transparency required in a democracy.

*The Elections, Ethics and Rules Committee can and should make this one of their top priority bills this session.

*Oregon’s system requires a paper ballot, but does not require any check of the machine results against the paper ballots. Therefore although we have a good record of each vote, we do not have a guarantee that the machines have read the paper ballots accurately.

*The highly respected Brennan Center for Justice report, "The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World", (6/28/06) states:

“Systems with voter verified paper records provide little, if any, security benefit over systems without such records, unless there are regular audits and/or recounts of the paper records.”

*HB 3270 addresses this weakness in Oregon's election system.

*Oregon VRC is hopeful that Oregon will soon be a state where citizens can feel confident that our votes are counted as cast and that election results genuinely reflect the will of the people.


Please help pass HB 3270 by showing your support!


Oregon Voter Rights Coalition


For more information, contact:

Jan White
Oregon Voter Rights Coalition
[e-mail]
503-281-0336