The Latest House Bill Requiring a VVPB

[Bill Bored]

Here it is folks. Submitted on the historic day of Jan. 6, 2005: H. R. 278. It's the "Know Your Vote Counts Act of 2005" (Introduced in House).

Read it and weep! Then, send the House Administration Committee your comments:

The Bill:
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.278:>

The Committee:
<http://www.house.gov/cha/index.html>

What this bill does is to establish the requirement for the VVPB with NO requirement to actually use it to verify the vote. Apparently the Repukes will leave the actual verification up to the states.

While this bill is a step in the right direction, it is only a placebo if we don't actually USE the paper ballot for random hand counting (auditing) to verify the vote. This can be mandated at either the state OR federal level for federal elections.

It could be that this is the best compromise these clowns in Congress can come up with. Or, we may find that even this modest improvement is blocked by the Republicans who have blocked 5 such bills since May 2003 in the House and Senate, making the vote COMPLETELY UNVERIFIABLE in many states.

Either way, it's time to write to Chairman Ney and the rest of this Committee who couldn't get 2 other House bills of this type to be voted on since the first one (HR2239) was introduced by Rush Holt of NJ in May 2003.

Go to it people, and keep kicking this one! And don't forget to keep the pressure on at the all-important state level!

Thanks.

[marions ghost]

1. KICK

:kick:

[Democrat Dragon]

2. A kick for democracy!

[Amaryllis]

3. My senator said there are powerful groups in WA who don't want reform and

the only way it will happen is a massive grass roots effort.
See this thread and please kick
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=303139&mesg_id=303139
It's to get Dean as DNC chair; we have got to get a chair who understands the issues with e-voting!

[Bill Bored]

4. Apples and Oranges

I wrote to my DNC hacks thanks to your thread, but this one is about an actual bill in the House that must be either passed or improved, but not allowed to die. It's the first step in getting verified voting, regardless of what the DNC does.

[Amaryllis]

5. How do we deal with these awful bills? We have to get more organized...

[Bill Bored]

6. We write to our reps at every level.

Focus on the LEADERSHIP who are blocking these bills. Lott, DeLay, Ney, Hastert, Frist and McConnell. They can make things happen, or NOT. The rest of the sheep in Congress will go along with them, esp. the Republicans.

If we belong to PACs, have them start petition drives so thousands more of us will be writing.

Organize state level efforts and focus on the states with the weakest recount laws and the most electoral votes! See:

<http://www.invisibleida.com/>

Sue the states and BOEs to prove that all votes are counted as cast. They can't, so they will LOSE, and the problems will be fixed.

Sue voting machine companies for consumer protection or FTC violations.

Hell, write to the Better Business Bureau!

And I'm sure there are other ways.

[Amaryllis]

9. and I am working with many who are doing all that....it's just that it all

takes time, and they can pass bad legislation so fast...

[Bill Bored]

12. It isn't BAD, it's just incomplete.

But it's a BIG improvement! See Andy's thread on what appears to be the Senate version:
<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=306505>

[helderheid]

7. I was mentioned in our local paper today

http://www.sltrib.com/utahpolitics/ci_2535306

[AmerDem]

8. we have Kerry and some other Representatives

working on their versions of election reform standards. The repukes would never be able to sneak this through.

[Bill Bored]

10. I have mixed feelings about it

This bill would give us the means to verify the vote -- paper ballots. It's a vast improvement and it's desperately needed! If this bill can be passed without delay, every state would have to comply, probably before the 2006 election. If on the other hand we wait for Kerry's or any other legislation that could cause a protracted debate, we may end up with nothing by 2006. That would be a disaster!

Why not get this into law (Reid and Ensign will probably introduce the Senate version) right away, and then work at the state level to get the auditing and recount laws in place?

Meanwhile, if Kerry, Boxer, Conyers or anyone else want to improve on this at the federal level by requiring random audits, etc., they can introduce new bills. But personally, I think even though this one is only half the battle, if it can be passed right away, instead of a year or 2 from now, it's worth it!

What do the rest of you think?

And enough about the name of the forum already! THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT!

[Andy_Stephenson]

11. The most imperative this we need right now is 4 words

Voter Verified Paper Ballot.

Triage...that is what we are doing right now.

I like the Ensign Bill.

It mandates Voter verified Paper Ballots and makes them the ballot of record.

[Bill Bored]

13. I agree. Read this one. I think it's the same, but it's in the House..

Read it! Thanks!

[Andy_Stephenson]

14. I did read it...

the marriage of the two bills is what I am looking at.

I think we can work with the senate bill and house bill and work out the details.

[Bill Bored]

16. OK.

Note also that King and Ensign are both Republicans and King also serves on the House Judiciary committee with Sensenbrenner and Conyers. When we write to them, we have to be "nice" about this bill, regardless of what we say about Ohio.

And this isn't Peter King, BTW!

[Andy_Stephenson]

17. Absolutely be nice...

talk of fraud and stolen elections is not the way to open dialogue with these people. These Republicans get it! So Be nice!.

[Bill Bored]

18. Also...

it's the House Administration Committee and Senate Rules Committee, run by Congressman Ney and Sen. Trent Lott, that get these bills -- not the Judiciary Committees. But it's interesting to see that the author of HR278 is on the same Committee as Conyers, et al.

[Bill Bored]

15. I need to clarify something:

When I said, "What this bill does is to establish the requirement for the VVPB with NO requirement to actually use it to verify the vote", I meant that it doesn't require any auditing or recounts. But the bill still provides that:

"`(iii) Once a voter verifies that the vote shown on a paper record provided under clause (i) is the vote the voter intends to cast (whether verified as originally entered or as changed and corrected as described in clause (ii)), the vote shall be final and the record shall serve as a permanent paper record of the vote.'."

I hope this means what it says and I didn't mean to cause any confusion in my original statement.

[Bill Bored]

19. and kick! nt

[torque]

20. Totally worthless crap

We only have one shot at it, lets get it right. Paper only. NO machines. Period.

[Bill Bored]

21. According to hedda_foil...

Another bill is forthcoming in the house which will more closely mirror Ensign's bill in the Senate. Unlike HR278, this one WILL make the paper ballot the true ballot of record, i.e., the official record used for any recount. That would be better.

[torque]

22. Great, lets wait until the...

"bill of the month" clubs have tossed them all out for us.