It's YOUR Choice TODAY - Demand Paper in November!

Promoted by Steven D. Our right to vote is our most precious right because from it flows all the others.

Here’s a question for you:

In light of all that you’ve heard about e-voting — if given the choice — what method would you prefer when voting in November, 2006?

A. I would prefer using an Electronic voting machine.

B. I would prefer using a paper Ballot.

(you may vote below on this voting issue…)
But, before you make that difficult choice, would you be surprised to find out that on Friday September 29th (TODAY) you now have an opportunity to call your representative in Congress and the Senate to demand that they support a bill introduced by Senators Boxer and Chris Dodd. This emergency legislation would

…refund state and county voting jurisdictions that offer paper ballots as an option to voters, and requires such jurisdictions post “in a conspicuous manner at the polling place, a notice stating that contingency paper ballots are available at the polling place and that a voter may request to use such a ballot at the voter’s discretion.”

– source: The Brad Blog

Senators Kerry and Feingold have also become co-sponsors of this bill and are proposing a resolution themselves in order to speed up the process of giving voters the option of being able to vote on paper this November.

Kerry and Feingold both have now co-sponsored and introduced a new “Sense of the Senate Resolution” calling on States around the country to act immediately to put back-up plans in place to have “Emergency Paper Ballots” at the polling places this November to avoid voters being turned away when voting machines fail to work. Thousands, so far this year, have been turned away in one state primary after another due to machine malfunction or unavailability.

An almost identical bill has been introduced in Congress by Rep. Rush Holt with an additional detail in the proposed legislation to treat these paper ballots as regular ballots so that they are counted immediately — unlike provisional ballots.

Furthermore, would you be surprised that this legislation is now endorsed by VoteTrustUSA.org and The DNC Voting Rights Institute?

Here is a letter from DNC Voting Rights Institute Chair, Donna Brazille:

OPEN LETTER TO SUPPORTERS OF

DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA!

Support The “Confidence in Voting Act of 2006”

By

Donna Brazile

Chair, DNC Voting Rights Institute

Fellow citizens,

We still have time to address the e-voting security crisis!

The November 7th mid term congressional and statewide elections are around the corner — and fears and concerns about the integrity of our electoral system and the security of paperless electronic voting systems have increased daily.

But there is time to act!

Before Congress adjourns for the November elections, we must pressure our lawmakers to support legislation that would help produce a fair and transparent election. Please call your lawmaker now and ask them to support the “Confidence in Voting Act of 2006.”

This legislation, sponsored in the Senate by Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Russ Feingold (WI), along with Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) in the House of Representatives will allow the states to use optical scan or other paper ballot-based voting systems to opt in to a program for this November’s election whereby they would be reimbursed for giving voters the right to cast their votes on paper ballots.

The “Confidence in Voting Act of 2006” would also:

# Reimburse States at the rate of 75 cents per printed ballot for

offering voters, upon their request, the right to cast a vote by means of a contingency paper ballots, regardless of the voting equipment otherwise in use at the precinct;

# Mandate that the voter’s right to cast his or her vote by means of such a contingency paper ballot be conspicuously posted at polling places;

# Mandate that jurisdictions treat contingency paper ballots as

regular ballots, and count them accordingly and not as provisional ballots (unless a voter is otherwise required to vote provisionally); and

# Authorize such sums as are necessary to reimburse the States under the program.

We still have time to address the e-voting security crisis!

Every citizen deserves the right to vote and have that vote counted as cast. This is the system by which we hold our elected officials accountable and the cornerstone of a functioning democracy. A wide variety of non-partisan, objective studies have shown deeply troubling irregularities in the conduct of the 2000 and 2004 elections, as well as in some of the primary elections this year that call into question the fairness and accuracy of our current election system and demonstrate that the problems have not been fixed. Many of these voting irregularities are a direct result of malfunctioning electronic voting machines and poll workers who may be untrained in administering this new technology. Some of the problems could be eliminated by the use of voter-verified paper ballots. It’s time we act and call upon our lawmakers to ensure this election is fair and transparent. Given the recent rampant election irregularities and discrepancies, voters are justifiably concerned about the integrity of their votes cast through potentially flawed and unreliable machinery.

That is why I am calling on Democrats to stand firmly in support of H.R.6187, the Confidence in Voting Act of 2006.

And here is a CNN video on this story:

(click HERE or on pic to view CNN paper ballot contigency legislation video)

Here’s RFK jr. on Hardball 2 nights ago about this issue.

(click HERE or on Pic to watch)

In case you haven’t seen it, this demo by Princeton showing the vulnerability of these machines has been all over the blogosphere. It has been shown on CNN & Fox and most recently, made it on CBS News yesterday — word is continuing to spread!

(Click HERE or on pic to view the Princeton Security Breach Demo)