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Democracy Shouldn't Come With a Price Tag or a Timetable

By Erin Huckle -- Intern
Posted on Thu Jul 26, 2007 at 09:57:03 AM EST

Yesterday the Senate Rules and Administration Committee held a hearing to receive testimony on S. 1487, the Ballot Integrity Act. So what's good about the bill? It includes a requirement for DRE voting machines to have a voter verified paper trail. In the event of a recount, the paper trail is considered to be the official ballot. What's bad about the bill? It doesn't require DRE's to have voter verified paper records until 2010 - two full years after the next Presidential and Congressional election.

According to most of the public officials who testified at today's hearing, the reasons we can't "get it straight by 2008" come down to time and money. Deborah Markowtiz, the Vermont Secretary of State and past President of the National Association of Secretaries of State, told the Senate Rules Committee that it's too close to the 2008 elections to make dramatic changes. Markowitz later said that even the 2010 elections are too soon for states to comply with the bill's technology requirements. Even more absurd was a statement from Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center, that 2014 is the ideal year to institute the bill's requirements. 2014?! That means we would have to go through three more congressional election cycles without required paper audit trails. Lewis, along with Senator Bennett, also cited concerns about the money needed for machine modifications as a reason to delay changes to the election system.

Before they push back the bill's deadline and funding, the Rules Committee should heed the words of the President of the League of Women Voters, Mary Wilson, who testified today. "America needs to get real about the resources required to run our elections," Wilson said. Elections are a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy and no price should be too high to pay to ensure their accuracy. We can't allow frustration with financial, technological, or timing impediments to delay action on essential election reform. Instead of putting off changes, Congress and the States need to at least make a sincere attempt to provide voters with paper records by 2008.


Tags: elections, election reform, electronic voting machines, paper ballot, paper trail, Get It Straight by 2008 (all tags)


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Democracy Shouldn't Come With a Price Tag or a Timetable :: 1 Comment

Send this letter to the Republican Party today !


Send this letter to the Republican party today!

Copy and paste the letter below and email it directly to info@gop.com  the Republican Party and get 2 friends to send this letter and have those 2 friends get 2 friends to send it and so on. Thank you. Drop me a message to info@dmocrats.org with the subject Done after you have sent the email.

Hello

Get your Republican party to end the war in Iraq, with Bush and Cheney resigning, and until you do we stop buying televisions, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, dvd players, stereo equipment, light bulbs from one of your party's major contributors and War contractors General Electric Corporation ( 203 373 2211 ) who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

Get your Republican party to  remove the FICA taxable income cap and tax all of a person's income for social security purposes and enact HR 676 Single payer universal health care into law and repeal Medicare Part D and place the prescription drug benefit in Medicare Part B covering 80 percent of all medication with no extra premiums, no extra deductibles, no means tests, no coverage gaps, and completely remove the means test to Medicare Part B and until you do, we will not buy consumer products and prescription drugs from the biggest 3 pharmacy chains and GOP contributors in the country Eckerd, CVS, and Walgreens and we will not buy health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna, the 2 biggest health insurance companies that give money to the GOP as well, who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

Get your Republican party to enact a $10 an hour minimum wage, and until you do, we will not go to the following restaurants and GOP contributors Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Dominos Pizza who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

Get your Republican party to enact into law Universal vote by mail with paper ballots counted by civil servants with civil servants registering voters and keeping track of registrations, and until you do, we will not buy any GOP contributor Dell computers or monitors or go to the following restaurants and GOP contributors Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Dominos Pizza who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

Get your Republican party to get congress to pass and enact a law legalizing abortions from conception to six months, and to nine months when the life of the mother appears threatened, and until you do we stop doing business with two of your biggest contributors Dominos Pizza and Curves for Women Health Clubs.

Signed,

by WWWoDMMOCRATSoORG on Mon Jul 30, 2007 at 10:53:00 AM EST


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