NC Senate just passed "Verified Paper Ballot Bill!" First in SouthEast,

[KoKo]

we think.....

Here's a summary of the Bill and a link to the full text if any of you want to use this in your state. Sadly, a "pilot program" to test new "non-paper verifications by Gary Bartlett, the Executive Director of the State Board of Elections. (This will have to be monitored as he works closely with the DRE Machine companies)

:toast: to all those who worked for so many months on this! It's not perfect and there will be battles at the Local County Elections Board Level, so we have to be ever vigilant but it's an Excellent start for setting out standards of Verification and Transparency in Voting Machines and Source Code.

...................................................................

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED:To Restore Public Confidence in NC Elections

AN ACT to restore public confidence in the election process by requiring that the state board of elections, through the development of a request for proposal, ensure that all voting systems generate either a paper ballot or a paper record by which voters may verify their votes before casting them and which provides a backup means of counting the vote that the voter casts; by providing statutory guidance as to counting; by standardizing purchasing of voting systems in north carolina, including a review of source code for software related to those voting systems and authorization to establish the role of the STate Board of elections and county board of elections related to training and support of voting systems; by requiring postelection testing of voting systems, including a paper sample‑count; by expanding the right to a hand‑to‑eye recount of paper ballots;

AND by permitting a pilot program to experiment with nonpaper means of voter verification and ballot backup.

FULL TEXT OF BILL FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2005/Bills/Senate/HTML/S223v5.html

[KoKo]

1. Please keep this kicked so everyone can see it! Andy would be pleased

and so should everyone else who has been working hard here in this Forum for Voting Reform. All of you who have kept the Forum going have given inspiration to others here to GET INVOLVED. And, without all the information here many of us wouldn't have had a clue as to how to get going with this in our own states.

Another :toast:

[kenny blankenship]

2. Great Achievement

now to duplicate it elsewhere...

[Dudley_DUright]

3. Please mail a copy to Jeb in FL

[ellenfl]

15. lol! jeb will just toss this in the crapper. you optimist, you. eom

[riqster]

4. This won't happen fast,

I'd have liked a deadline, but it is progress. Congrats to all who have pushed for this, and I hope Andy is aware...

There are some big-assed loopholes there, so in the words of Alastor Moody, CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

[KoKo]

5. Yes....it was a miracle that at least we have a basis for reform with this

bill...and we know that there are sharks circling. They circled throughout it all. We have two brave NC Senators who gave us alot of help and they will be vigilant with us.

What a battle it was. I think that's why "paid lobbyists" are so effective. Taking time off work to appear at the hearings that were constantly being cancelled takes a toll on volunteers. That's probably why so much bad legislation gets passed in the "dark of night" when citizens aren't aware. Following a bill throughout the process is so time consuming few can keep up with it.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. NC Activists had to fight tooth nail and claw

We all fought like bear-dogs...

We were criticized for our anger when democratic senators gutted our bill, twisted our bill, and installed horrible clauses in our bill, all in the "revision process" behind closed doors, and with the cloak of anonymity.

It was the democrats who did the damage to the bill,
remember that when you say support anyone who is a democrat over a republican.

Get rid of the bad democrats, just clean them out of the party.
Do it at the state level to send a message up the organization.

This legislation showed the politicians that we Tar Heels can stick together, and when we roar, you must listen.

[leftchick]

19. Do you have a list of those bad Democrats in NC?

For future reference?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

24. Bob Cordle

Bob Cordle, Democratic State Board of Elections member -
he served on the legislative appointed study committee on e-voting, and he fought VVPB from day one.

Cordle asked for alternative vote verification systems, and this was added as a pilot program to our bill - dadgummit.

He wasn't renominated to the NC SBOE, but the Gov tried to amend the a budget bill to change the law on BOE appts -
We call it the Bob Cordle protection act.

Lawmakers repealed the governor's amendment in yet another bill.

We still don't know if the Gov will follow the law or not.

As long as Bob Cordle sits on the State Board of Elections, VVPB will always be at risk.

There are more bad democrats, but now isn't the time to discuss that...

[Hissyspit]

7. kick - nominate to Greatest page, please n/t

[Bill Bored]

8. Looks pretty good!

Haven't had time to scrutinize it, but there's a lot of good stuff in there and it certainly is better than being completely in the dark.

Congratulations to all who helped make this possible!

So is it law yet, or what's the next step?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. Gov Easley will have to get out of his NASCAR and sign the bill

we call him Governor NASCAR

[FreedomAngel82]

9. This is wonderful!

I'm so happy about that! Hurray!

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. Super-excellent! North Carolina people show wisdom and common sense

Andy would be so very happy.

A kick and a recommendation for smart NC voters and for Andy's movement!

[kster]

12. NC Rocks

and you made a good fight,now that you got all the bills that make you feel secured in your vote counts and the election process, could you now join us in our fight to rip the e-vote counting process completely out of corporate Americas hands and give it back to the people. PBHC. We no longer have to KISS corporate Americas ass. We know their game.

[WhoWantsToBeOccupied]

13. Thanks to all who battled for this! Wonderful!

[paineinthearse]

14. Congratulations, NC

2 down, 48 to go.

[Tuesday_Morning]

16. Great work!

A big thanks to everybody who worked on this.

[slay]

17. I live in NC and this is great news

But I haven't even heard it mentioned on the news here at all. Guess that would mean they'd have to admit there was a problem before if they are changing it.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

22. the battle wages on - next step

See www.ncvoter.net for background on problems in NC Elections,
also, go to www.votersunite.org and use their search box,
or go to the database for the 2004 election.

We have been fighting for 19 months for VVPB, and so many people gave
up tons of their time and money.

We
learned everything we could about elections and voting systems in NC
wrote letters to the editor
had computer experts at BBV community panels around the state,
did swat team canvassing of legislators neighborhoods
picketed county BOEs
attended county commissioners meetings
had lobbying days with press conferences
wrote many opinion pieces
used studies of NC voting data to persuade public and lawmakers
engaged political groups for support
engaged non-partisan groups for support
we urged citizens to get rid of County BOE members who were anti VVPB
we urged state party chair to not renominate a really bad SBOE member

we ended up with an assembly of email lists and contacts that might number up to 10,000 - and when we asked them to act, they did.

It was truly amazing, a large grassroots action.

[wildeyed]

18. Thanks! To you and everyone else who worked on this.

From one NC resident to another :toast:

[ooglymoogly]

20. kick n nom

[BamaBecky]

21. Andy Stephenson would be so happy and proud!....n/t

[sonias]

23. Congratulations to NC

Great news! Keep it moving across the country.

Sonia