Protesters demand security in elections (Tallahassee, FL)

[seafan]

Cross-posted from LBN.


Protesters demand security in elections

By Jeff Burlew
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

April 19, 2006

Advocates for fair elections gathered Tuesday at the Capitol to press legislators to support bills that would require paper trails and election audits before voters go to the polls this year.

Frederick Simmons, a political science student at Florida A&M University, went to the rally after seeing a flier on campus. He said he's worried that his vote isn't protected.

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Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho participated in the event along with People for the American Way and the Florida Fair Elections Coalition. The rally attracted a few dozen people. Using the theme, "Don't Gamble with Our Vote," they said Nevada does a better job of protecting gamblers than Florida does protecting voters.

"A vote for president should be at least as secure as a 25-cent bet in Las Vegas," Sancho said, quoting a New York Times editorial.

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Susan Pynchon, director of the Fair Elections Coalition, said Florida is in a voting crisis.
"We vote on secret software," she said. "Our elections are run by private voting machine vendors. Our supervisors of elections are afraid to speak up regarding systems that many of them know to be faulty."

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http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/NEWS01/604190332/1010/NEWS01