A letter from Senator Reid about voting issues

[NVMojo]

I recieved this today in response to a letter I sent.

January 4, 2005

Dear Ms.

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns
regarding irregularities during the November 2, 2004 election. I
understand your concerns and I appreciate hearing from you.

As you may know, a Nevada district court judge refused to
reopen registration for Clark County residents who believed that
their voter application forms were destroyed. People who
registered but were not listed in the voter registration rolls were,
however, allowed to vote using a provisional ballot.

I am committed to ensuring that all elections are held in a
fair and legal manner and that every American is allowed to
exercise their right to vote. I believe that one important step in this
process is to ensure that there is a verified paper voter record in
order to maintain voter confidence. For this reason, I cosponsored
S. 2437, the Voting Integrity and Verification Act (VIVA)
introduced by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) on May 18, 2004. This
bill would clarify Congressional intent with respect to the
permanent paper record and voter verification provisions of the
Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. Each voting machine
used for federal elections will be required to produce a voter
verified permanent paper record.

In the 2004 election, Nevada was the only state in the union
to have the electronic voting system in place statewide. I am
pleased with the success Nevada experienced with this system, and
I am hopeful that in the future, all states will be able to implement
electronic voting.

If you have specific concerns regarding the administration
of elections in Nevada, please contact the Office of the Attorney
General the office closest to you:

Carson City
Nevada Department of
Justice
100 North Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89701-
4717
[phone]
Fax - [phone]

Reno
Nevada Department of
Justice
5420 Kietzke Lane Suite
202
Reno, NV 89511
[phone]
Fax - [phone]

Las Vegas
Nevada Department of
Justice
555 E. Washington Ave,
Suite 3900
Las Vegas, NV 89101
[phone]
Fax - [phone]


Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. For more
information about my work for Nevada, my role in the United States Senate Leadership, or to
subscribe to regular e-mail updates on the issues that interest you, please visit my Web site at
http://reid.senate.gov. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

My best wishes to you.




Sincerely,

HARRY REID
United States Senator

[shraby]

1. Clark county didn't have a paper trail.

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. A pool writer composed this paragraph...

I am committed to ensuring that all elections are held in a fair and legal manner and that every American is allowed to exercise their right to vote. I believe that one important step in this process is to ensure that there is a verified paper voter record in order to maintain voter confidence. For this reason, I cosponsored S. 2437, the Voting Integrity and Verification Act (VIVA) introduced by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) on May 18, 2004. This bill would clarify Congressional intent with respect to the permanent paper record and voter verification provisions of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. Each voting machine used for federal elections will be required to produce a voter verified permanent paper record.

It is verbatim what I received smack in the middle of the response from my represenative. In the midst of a not terribly polite "leave me alone."

[Benhurst]

3. "I am pleased with the success...

Nevada experienced with this system, and I am hopeful that in the future, all states will be able to implement electronic voting."

This is the Minority Leader of the Senate?

We're totally f**ked, big time.

[m.standridge]

5. And, well, again, how about some bucks for a recount?

The Dems could have afforded it. Was it such a lost cause?
Maybe a standard recount wouldn't have turned it around, but accompanied by court action beyond the one judge Breen's rejection of the disenfranchised voter thing being extended to the whole state, it could get it close enough to trigger an automatic recount.
And maybe justify looking at the computers?
I just hope SOMEONE way up in the Democratic Party is being realistic in believing they're immune to the threat of election fraud.

[whalerider55]

4. my kind of national leader

if it didn't happen in Nevada, it didn't happen anywhere.

Harry, there were six indictments in that case. Yet to come to trial. and three of those indicted clods woprked in Ohio the last month of the election, WHILE UNDER INDICTMENT!

Hello? Anyone home?

Someone who loves this guy please tell me again what a bush-bitin' bulldog he is, and what a canny strategist he is.

I thought his first allegiance was to the constitution.

oh yeah. that was just a "Mr. SMith Goes to Washington" hangover.

whalerider55

[NVMojo]

6. ...it didn't cheer me up to read this ....

Las Vegas was the epicenter of population that had the paperless voting machines from Sequoia that were ten years old and purchased under "smelly" circumstances. My county had the brand new machines with paper trails and a month after the vote, they found 271 votes that remained on the cartridges of two of the paper-trailed machines UNCOUNTED. There are too many loopholes, whether these machines have trails or not. They suck and he knows it. He's won several elections on the old Sequoias ....hmmmm.

And I still ponder at how it was that Dems went to the polls in Nevada and voted for Bush and Reid and so did Repukes....

[Emit]

7. NVMojo

I just received the same response this morning from Reid, and was wondering what had taken him so long to respond. I was also wondering if you were going to get the same response, knowing that you are in S. NV. (I'm in N. NV.) Have you written him a response yet, countering him on this statement?

<<snip>>
"In the 2004 election, Nevada was the only state in the union
to have the electronic voting system in place statewide. I am
pleased with the success Nevada experienced with this system, and
I am hopeful that in the future, all states will be able to implement electronic voting."
<<snip>>

Whether it does any good or not, I will write a response to him. Please let us know if you have a response to Reid, because I have always followed your posts with NV voting info, as you seem to be more aware of the e-voting info (re: Clark County, paper trail vs. old machines, etc.) here in NV than I am.

[katinmn]

8. His voting rights bill -- sitting in committee

It's one thing to create legislation, another one entirely to get it passed out of the Republican controlled committees!

Politicians often use this tactic of introducing legislation to appease constituents knowing it won't get passed. Sad.
----------------------------------------------------------------
From his letter:
For this reason, I cosponsored S. 2437, the Voting Integrity and Verification Act (VIVA) introduced by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) on May 18, 2004. This bill would clarify Congressional intent with respect to the permanent paper record and voter verification provisions of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. Each voting machine used for federal elections will be required to produce a voter verified permanent paper record.

[NVMojo]

9. paper trails are pointless if the machines can still be controlled and

there is nothing to cross reference the results with, they must use the voter logs from the day of the election if nothing else ...otherwise papertrails are like using condoms with holes.


from Jesse Jackson editorial:

If Harry Reid, the new leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, has any sense, he will lead members of the caucus to support their colleagues from the House and demand a debate that will expose the irregularities in Ohio. If Kerry wants to establish his continued leadership, he will stand first to join with Conyers and demand a debate.

Will the debate overturn the outcome of the election? That is doubtful, although the irregularities in Ohio suggest that Kerry may well have won if a true count could be had. But the debate is vital anyway. This country's elections, each run with different standards by different states, with partisan tricks, racial bias, and too often widespread incompetence, are an open scandal.

We need national standards to ensure that we get an honest count across the country. National standards, accompanied by a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to vote for all Americans, will be passed only if leaders in the Congress refuse to close their eyes to the scandal, and instead stop business as usual.

Conyers, Reid and Kerry will face harsh criticism for violating what might be called the Nixon precedent. When Kennedy beat Nixon by a few thousand votes in an election marked by irregularities in Illinois and Texas, Nixon chose not to challenge the result. Gore essentially followed that rule after the gang of five in the Supreme Court disgraced themselves by stopping the vote count in Florida. But the effect of the Nixon precedent is to provide those who would cheat with essentially a free pass. Particularly when the state officials are partisans, they can put in the fix with little fear of exposure so long as they win.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse04.html