Virginia GOP Trying to Bring Back Unverifiable Voting Machines

[leveymg]

Prevent Voter Fraud in VA
Keep the Ban, Save the Vote: Oppose HB 2080

Keep the Ban, Save the VoteACTION ALERT: contact VA legislators by Thursday afternoon to prevent voter fraud in upcoming elections. How can you prevent voter fraud? Keep the ban on DRE voting machines (new touch screen voting machines) that can't be recounted or verified. Oppose VA HB 2080.

If the VA General Assembly passes HB 2080, Virginia would become the first state in the nation to reverse direction and move back toward paperless electronic voting.

Please forward to your committees, email lists, post on your websites.


A little background ...

In the 2000 Presidential Election it became critically apparent with all the voting problems that we needed a way to confirm the actual vote. Electronic touch screen voting was one identifiable problem, and finally in 2007 Virginia banned the purchase of new touch screen voting machines (DRE's: direct recording electronic voting machines). They can be used, but when new voting machines are needed ones that have a verifiable audit trail must be purchased, e.g. optical scan.

There is a well-intentioned, but misinformed effort that came up last year and has resurfaced this year. The House elections subcommittee threw a curve ball Tuesday morning and recommended a one year lapse in Virginia's DRE ban. The 'motivation' is to provide financial relief to the counties who claim they need to buy DREs to get through redistricting. Cost is a red herring; nonetheless, the effort to REMOVE the ban is dangerously close. They could spend the same or less money transitioning to optical scan voting which leaves a paper trail. If this amendment becomes law, the counties and cities (who claim to be broke) will stock up on enough DREs to avoid switching for years. If this amendment fails, then most localities will have to start phasing in optical scan machines this year.

What this means is that the legislation proposed would allow a period that new DRE voting machines could be purchased, i.e. stocked up. Do you really want to have these machines with absolutely no way whatsoever to count the vote for our critical upcoming Senate and Presidential elections? No, a thousand times no. Hell no.

The full House P&E committee votes Friday morning at 9AM. It would help if, no it's critical we call / email, especially from
constituents before this vote. Contact from outside the district helps to a degree.

P.S. If you're in Richmond Friday morning, and can speak against the bill at P&E, please come to the hearing.


Preserve Fair and Accurate Elections in Virginia

Continue the Ban on New Electronic Voting Machines (DREs)

Dear Virginia voter,

The House Privileges and Elections committee votes Friday morning Feb 4 at 9AM on a bill that would allow localities to stock up on paperless electronic voting machines during 2011-2012, the same time that they would otherwise be making the transition to optical scan ballots that leave a paper trail. The time frame is critical because this is a redistricting year. If this bill passes, then Virginia will halt our transition to verifiable voting machines, and purchase many more unverifiable machines that will remain in the Commonwealth for years.

Please call or email members of the House Privileges and Elections (P&E) Committee and ask them to oppose HB 2080 Friday morning in P&E, and to preserve the ban on new paperless electronic voting machines, known as DREs. Your call is especially valuable if you are a constituent.

A very short phone call or email is all that's needed. Members don't have time during session to read long emails. Be short and polite. Time is limited! This critical vote will take place Friday morning at 9AM.

Technical note - the version of the bill that will be voted on at Friday's committee hearing is different than what was originally introduced and shows on the General Assembly's computer. The Elections subcommittee is proposing an amendment that removes the DRE ban for a year, ostensibly to save counties money, but in actuality that just delays the transition for a decade as counties will instead spend the same money on unverifiable machines instead of recountable optical scan paper ballots. The other House DRE bills were rolled into HB 2080.

DREs have failed in Virginia elections. The risks of conducting elections with DREs were made clear in the March 10, 2009 Special Election in Fairfax County. A DRE reported 724 total votes on election night despite only 359 people voting on that machine. The cause of that incorrect result has never been explained, yet many Virginians still vote on that model DRE.

Optical scan voting saves money. Even very large precincts can use a single optical scan tabulator, typically replacing 5 to 10 DREs at a fraction of the cost, even considering ballot costs.

Over three-fourths of the states have moved toward verifiable voting for excellent reasons. Without a voter-verifiable paper record, a meaningful recount of an election cannot be conducted, software errors can make it impossible to recover the voters' intent, and the opportunity for large-scale fraud is expanded.

If the General Assembly passes HB 2080, Virginia would become the first state in the nation to reverse direction and move back toward paperless electronic voting.

The 2007 decision by the General Assembly and the Governor was a strong step forward for election integrity. It came after several years of hearings, citizen action, and is in-line with the direction the majority of the states are heading. Virginia citizens deserve verifiable elections.


You don't have to be a constituent, but definitely mention if you are. Thanks for taking action.

Alex Blakemore
Virginia Verified Voting
www.vvcva.org

House Privileges & Election Committee (oppose HB 2080. Keep the DRE ban)


Cole (Chair) [e-mail] 804.698.1088
Cosgrove (Vice Chair) [e-mail] 804.698.1078
Janis [e-mail] 804.698.1056
Scott, J.M. [e-mail] 804.698.1053
Dance [e-mail] 804.698.1063
Putney [e-mail] 804.698.1019
O'Bannon [e-mail] 804.698.1073
Hugo [e-mail] 804.698.1040
Alexander [e-mail] 804.698.1089
Spruill [e-mail] 804.698.1077
Ingram [e-mail] 804.698.1062
Bell, R.B. [e-mail] 804.698.1058
Gilbert [e-mail] 804.698.1015
Joannou no email 804.698.1079
Jones [e-mail] 804.698.1076
Miller, J.H. [e-mail] 804.698.1050
Cox, J. [e-mail] 804.698.1066
Sickles [e-mail] 804.698.1043
Albo [e-mail] 804.698.1042
Landes [e-mail] 804.698.1025
Phillips [e-mail] 804.698.1002
Howell, A.T. [e-mail] 804.698.1090

[ladjf]

1. That's a bad idea. nt