By Brad Friedman on 3/23/2007, 2:52am PT  

It's a big day in the House on Friday, with hours of hearings set for Rush Holt's HR811 Election Reform bill in the House Adminstration Committee's Subcomittee on Elections, with four big panels set.

The witnesses this time may be more good than bad for a change, and include, among other familiar names, Debra Bowen (CA SoS) and Noel Runyan, the blind technology expert who, with many other disabled voter advocates released a statement here calling for "an immediate ban" on DREs last week. (My interview with Runyan, during last week's guest hosting stint for Action Point on Air America/Nova M Phoenix is here [MP3] for your listening pleasure. I'm back again this Sunday, btw, with a special exclusive broadcast interview premiere! Stay tuned for details!). The rest of the witnesses are listed below.

Unfortunately, I may be gone for much of the day, so let me know how they did in the event that C-SPAN picks any of it up (and if anybody spots Warren Stewart of VoteTrustUSA calling for an amendment to the Holt Bill to require a DRE ban during his public testimony, send him a few dozen roses, will ya?!)

By the way, now's a great time to email and call your Congress members to ask them nicely, but firmly, to amend Holt to include a ban on Electronic DRE Ballots!

The full panel breakdown is listed below...

Committee on House Administration
Subcommittee on Elections

Election Reform: HR 811
Friday March 23, 2007, 9:30 am
1310 Longworth House Office Building

Panel One

  • Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)
  • Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI)

Panel Two

  • Charlie Crist, Governor of Florida
  • Debra Bowen, Secretary of State, California
  • Chris Nelson, Secretary of State, South Dakota

Panel Three

  • Tanya Clay House, Director of Public Policy, People for the American Way
  • George Gilbert, Director of Elections, Guilford County, North Carolina
  • Edward Felten, Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University
  • Don Norris, Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland - Baltimore

Panel Four

  • Noel Runyan, Personal Data Systems
  • Harold Snider, Access for the Handicap
  • Warren Stewart, Policy Director, VoteTrustUSA
  • Gail Mahoney, Jackson County MI, Chair National Association of Counties
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