There's movement on the electronic voting front. Unfortunately, it's in the wrong direction. H.R. 811, Rep. Rush Holt's (NJ-12) bill is a darling of the any-legislation-is-better-than-no-legislation crowd. Apparently they haven't learned the lessons of Medicare Part D, NAFTA, CAFTA and No Child Left Behind. H.R. 811 may have come from a good idea, but the bill has been so weighed down with dangerous changes that at this point, it will do more harm than good if passed. You can read Voters Unite's take on what needs to be changed here. I'd like to see the whole bill scrapped in favor of a simple bill that bans DRE's (touchscreen/touchbutton machines) and provides federal funds to states for the purchase of precinct-based optical scan systems in time for 2008.
Grassroots activists across the country have been working day and night to get that message to Rep. Holt. Activists like Mark Crispin Miller, who found out why that message didn't hold any sway with Congress during an email exchange with Rep. Holt's counsel, Michelle Mulder. Here she is defending her boss' bill against the charge that it "stipulates that the e-voting software be available only to 'qualified' individuals, who must sign strict non-disclosure agreements":
"That's not what the bill said when introduced. Therefore, you can take up your concerns with Microsoft and others in the proprietary software industry. During Committee proceedings they lobbied very heavily against the language that was in the bill as introduced and none of you lobbied in favor of the language that was in the bill as introduced, and thus, the software industry won. It's very simple, really."
That's one heck of a civics lesson from Ms. Mulder. Extra points for contempt and smugness!
To be clear: Microsoft and others in the proprietary software industry lobbied "very heavily" and because citizens opposed to DRE machines and secret vote counts couldn't match the power of one of the largest and richest industries in the world, the software industry won. See, it's like a game. A game in which our elections are decided and people are placed/kept in office to make decisions to send our soldiers to war, spend our tax dollars and create public policy that affects us all.
Do what you can to even this playing field. The Holt Bill, H.R. 811, is coming up for a vote as early as tomorrow. Take five minutes right now to call your representative in Congress to let him/her know that you know the truth behind H.R. 811 and that it's not okay with you if the software industry "wins" and unverifiable DREs are allowed to continue to be used in American elections. Demand a NO vote on H.R. 811.
In the spirit of being part of the solution, here's what we should get from this Congress:
A stripped down bill for 2008 which provides for:
- Voter-marked paper ballots counted by hand or precinct-based optical scan systems
- Sufficient, timely mandatory audits for every election
- Federal Funds for all jurisdictions to meet these requirements. Give the Billion dollars in
funding to the states that have unreliable DRE;s (touchscreen/touchbutton) so they canpurchase precinct-based optical scan systems, not printers since they do not offer an independent voter-marked paper ballot - Placement in time for use in 2008
- Congressional oversight of our elections instead of allowing the EAC that role. The EAC is comprised of administrative appointees and are not elected representatives of the people accountable to the voters. Congressional oversight provides for a continued system of checks and balances that was called for in our Constitution.
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