Maryland paper ballot law thwarted by 1 Democratic Senator

Democrats Fighting Hard For Diebold in Maryland
By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
March 28, 2006
That's Right - Democratic State Senator Paula Hollinger Is Diebold's Best Friend In The Maryland Legislature!

There is overwhelming support for verifiable elections in Maryland. The House of Delegates recently unanimously passed a bill that would require a voter verified paper record of every vote and a mandatory random manual audit of 5% of those records. The bill included an amendment that calls for leasing optical scan equipment for this year?s elections. Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich has strongly supported the switch to a paper ballot optical scan system. The New York Times weighed in with an editorial calling for "common sense" in Maryland.

So why isn't anything happening? Two powerful state Senate Democrats - Senate president Mike Miller and the char of the committee to which the bill was referred Senator Paula Hollinger (pictured at right) - seem to be determined to protect Diebold in Maryland - and they're willing to waste millions of Maryland taxpayer dollars to do it!

It is the official position of the Democratic National Committee that a paper ballot optical scan voting system is more accurate, affordable, and with the use of ballot marking devices, provides the same accessibility for disabled voters. However, it is Republicans who are working on behalf of Maryland's voters to ensure confidence in the state's elections. Governor Ehrlich has twice asked for funding to be appropriated for leasing optical scan equipment for this year. Senator Hollinger took the first request - $21.8 million - and diverted the money to purchase electronic pollbooks from - you guessed it - Diebold.

Now Senator Hollinger is cooking up even more lucrative plans for her friends at Diebold. Apparently she is considering three proposals:

1. Scrap the state's current Diebold TS-R6 touchscreen machines, which cannot be retrofitted with printers, for the new TSx touchscreens. That would transfer $60 million of Maryland taxpayer money into Diebold's bank account.

2. Purchase one TSx for every precinct in 2006, which makes no sense at all since some voters would have the benefit of a voter verified paper record while others wouldn't and the configuration of R6s and TSx has not received federal certification.

3. A pilot project in 5 precincts, the same the strategy used by Democrats in Virginia and Georgia, who want to bury the whole idea of verified voting with meaningless "pilot projects".
All these proposals have one thing in common - lots of money for Diebold. Why is Senator Hollinger so determined to pad Diebold's profits?



Stop the Madness! Contact Maryland State Senator Paula Hollinger and tell her you want paper ballots in Maryland! Send emails to Senator Hollinger paula.colodny.hollinger@senate.state and the members of the Senate Committee on Education, Health and Environmental Affairs and then follow up with a call to Senator Senator Hollinger (410) 841-3131. Contact information for the entire committee is available here.

http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1131&Itemid=113

All those who advocate for the use of these election-theft devices are on the take.
Bribes/pay-offs from the e-voting vendors, or higher-ups within the rethug party.

Time for some sunshine! :grr:

R'ed

With friends like this who needs enemies....

undermine the Dem party and especially elections.
It has been done famously in Ohio, Florida and California.

She definitely needs to be booted. :thumbsup:

and have them contact her.

we busted up her email account.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Maybe a recall might make them all wake up.

paula.colodny.hollinger@senate.state.md.us


Sorry about that...

Just what we need - another Maryland Democrat opposing verifiable elections - Hoyer is plenty.

Hollinger's email

paula.colodny.hollinger@senate.state.md.us