Crunch Time for Election Reform- EASY WAYS TO TAKE ACTION TO PASS HR811 - REASONS AND WHO SUPPORTS

Crunch Time for Election Reform- EASY WAYS TO TAKE ACTION
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TAKE ACTION BY WEDNESDAY, SEP 4 IF YOU HAVE NOT YET

A CONCISE 1 PAGE LETTER YOU CAN PRINT AND FAX TO YOUR US REPRESENTATIVE (Be sure to add your name, address, and phone number and sign and date it before you fax it.) http://www.saveourvotes.org/legislation/unfundedmandateflyer.pdf

YOUR REPRESENTATIVE'S FAX NUMBER AND CONTACT INFORMATION:
http://www.house.gov/

OR simply CALL AND LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE
"Vote "YES" on HR811, Vote "NO" on the "unfunded mandate" amendment"
with the staffer who answers the phone at your Representative's office.

EASY-TO-USE LETTER ON ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION'S SITE
https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=109

EASY-TO-USE LETTER ON GETITSTRAIGHTBY2008 SITE http://www.getitstraightby2008.org/c.hnKKIINpEqG/b.2725733/k.4D9B/Demand_Reliable_Voting_Machines_Now/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx

Wednesday, Sep 5 may be the last day you can act before the House vote on "The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" (HR811). If you have not already, please find just a few minutes to send a fax or email your Representative.

HR811 will ensure that the voters determine who controls Congress and the Presidency in 2009. Do not have to tell your children someday that democracy ended and that you did nothing. A few minutes of your time is all that is needed now to protect our futures at this critical juncture in history.
OR BUY A COPY OF THIS WEEK'S NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE AND FAX THIS ARTICLE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090407L.shtml

SOME ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING HR811

Among the election reform groups supporting HR811 along with The National Election Data Archive are Verified Voting, VoteTrustUSA, Vote PA, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Brennan Center, People for the American Way, NC Coalition for Verified Voting, Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE), Common Cause, Concerned Voters of Centre County (PA), Save Our Votes (MD), Citizens for Election Integrity (MN), Iowans for Voting Integrity, and Voting Matters/Oregon.

OTHER INFORMATION

Verified Voting's comments on HR811:

"The most basic elements of the bill remain intact – 2008 requirements for paper ballots as an independent means of verifying electronic vote tabulation, random mandatory audits, disclosure of voting system software, tighter security of electronic voting systems, emergency paper ballots in case of machine failures, provision of funding to enable jurisdictions to upgrade to accessibly verifiable paper-based voting systems, and the establishment of an arm's length between voting machine vendors and testing laboratories. These reforms are important, and must be enacted as soon as possible. Therefore VerifiedVoting.org continues to support H.R. 811."

An article on HR811 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation "Crunch Time for E-Voting Reform"
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005421.php

You may remind your US Representative that there is plenty of time, as well as funding, for states with paperless electronic ballot voting machines to replace them before the 2008 November election and conduct manual audits.

Verified Voting's "How Long Does it Take to Change Voting Systems"
http://electionmathematics.org/em-voting-systems/VotingSystemChange.pdf

NEDA's easy-to-read, accurate analysis of HR811 http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Analysis-HR811-Aug2007.pdf

The most recent text of HR811
http://verifiedvoting.org/downloads/MANAG_01A_xml4.pdf

HERE IS A SAMPLE LETTER YOU COULD COPY AND PASTE TO A WORD PROCESSOR AND THEN FAX TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE:

Dear Representative -----------

Please vote "Yes" on House Resolution 811 and vote "No" on the "unfunded mandate" amendment to it that would gut the requirement for paper ballots and manual election audits in 2008.
Here is an easy-to-read, understandable analysis of HR811's provisions:
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Analysis-HR811-Aug2007.pdf

It is time for all 50 States to have verifiably honest accurate elections - and taxpayers deserve more economical voting systems.

Many states have no paper ballots, and even more have no audits of their elections - never comparing voter verifiable paper records with the unofficial vote counts; and many use inaccurate voting systems which have been decertified or scrapped states such as CA, MD, FL,...; leaving them with no way to judge the integrity of their vote counts and electoral process.

The United States needs "The Voter Confidence & Increased Accessibility Act" (H.R. 811).

Together with the $300 Million authorized by the House, States have $1.6+ Billion available in remaining HAVA funding and can afford to meet the 2008 deadlines. See how much money your state has left of HAVA funding on pp. 8 and 9 in the US Election Assistance report http://www.eac.gov/docs/Congressional%20Report%20Public%20Release%20Final.pdf

There is plenty of time for states with paperless electronic voting systems to replace them with auditable voting equipment. See how long it takes States to replace voting systems in Verified Voting's "How Long Does it Take to Change a Voting System?"
http://electionmathematics.org/em-voting-systems/VotingSystemChange.pdf

Please see http://ElectionArchive.org for more information

for the following reasons:
HR811 uses the term "paper ballot" to refer to a voter-verified paper trail. This is intended to confuse you and gain your support.

HR811 does not ban DREs -- BUT it should!
HR811 does not require a "voter-marked paper ballot" -- BUT it should!

Paper trails are no substitute for ballots that voters can mark directly!
Paper trails are not counted on election night!

HR811 requires 3-10% recounts of the paper trail. Even if 10% of paper trails are "re-counted" weeks after the election, 90% of tallies will be based solely on "trust" that the computers worked right and all invisible counting was honest!

Holt is beholden to a big DRE machine vendor in his district, Avante. MoveOn uses obfuscating phrases to fool its members. Don't know if it is true that The Brennan Center, Common Cause, etc. are really supporting this bill, or they may be foolled like MoveOn. Why the hurry. Let's take a closer look at what HR811 will do and won't do.

electronic result is accept as the count - just as the optiscan report is accepted or someones spreadsheet is accepted - but the only the paper ballot is the legal ballot - and that is what is audited and that is what is in a recount.

I agree HR811 does not ban DREs and I would wish that it did ban DRE's - but do you want to give up stopping - or at least catching via audit - any attempt by the GOP to steal another election - just so you can say you defeated HR811?

Elections are under state control - only as to the Federal Election can the Congress make any law. "voter-marked paper ballot" is a great idea - but one the States will not accept - so again do you throw out the audits just so you can say you defeated HR811?

While paper trails are not counted on election night, they will be audited - I know Bev pretends so what as to audits as she tries to get the GOP goal of no bill passed accomplished - but you should be smarter than to listen to Bev.

It is true that HR811 requires 3-10% recounts of the paper trail, leaving 90+% not audited - but someone who is not trained in Math must be your source for your distain since the number audited makes it more likely than not that any machine tampering will be caught.

The smear "Holt is beholden to a big DRE machine vendor in his district, Avante" should not even be in this discussion - the only question is does HR811 give us cleaner elections - and the answer is an obvious yes.

I know Bev and those she has lobbied and convinced are ready to throw the baby out with the bath water, making the crooks in the GOP very happy - I hope you are smarter than that and do not want that result.