Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer
IMPORTANT NOTE FROM BRAD: In the above clip, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) speaks about the necessity of a paper ballot for every vote cast, that can be “audited” after an election to ensure voter intent was recorded accurately. It should be noted, however, that while he plans to introduce a small “emergency bill” next week, which would give money to jurisdictions who wish to provide paper ballots to voters in the November 2008 election only, his larger Election Reform bill (HR811) that he has previously been pushing (and refers to near the end of the segment) does not, despite what the Congressman says, require paper ballots be used.
HR811 would continue to allow for DRE (usually called touch-screen) voting systems to be used, as long as they have a so-called “paper trail” printer. DRE “paper trails”, however, do not provide a reliable, auditable record of voter intent. Only voter-marked paper ballots — such as the ones used in New Hampshire — provide such assurances of an auditable election result. See this Special Coverage page for more info on HR811.
DREs with or without so-called “paper trails” cannot be used safely in any American election. Period.
Holt continues to confuse the issue by using the phrase “voter verified paper ballots” to mean what we call PAPER TRAILS.
His new bill provides some funding for conversion to paper ballot systems in November 2008, but does NOT require paper ballots to be used.
STOP “RUSH HOLT”
New Hampshire, like Stalin’s Communist Russia, had paper ballots.
Yet the results in both “states” are and have been questioned.
Now Bev Harris has pointed out that a chain of custody violation in NH, as in Stalininst Russia, can invalidate that which the paper ballot system promised to remove (uncertainty).
When
thepaper ballots are counted the question remains, were they the proper ballots or imposters injected into the system thru a shoddy chain of custody mechanism?Like Stalin inferred, neither the type of voter nor the type of ballot determines the outcome, instead, what determines the outcome is those who control and count “the ballots”.
What counts most in the final analysis is who counts most. 🙂
An evil empire counting holy paper ballots does not equate to a holy election batman.
I like the direction Holt wants to go, and I do not like the direction self-appointed EI movement elitists have gone for the past 40 years … because they have gone to where we are now … which we all know is not a good place.
I think that since the majority of legislation favors corporations …they actually write it. Many who liked Holt’s original bill couldn’t recognize it after microsoft’s input.It will only be citizen outcry that will make them do the right thing. That’s why it is imperative that Brad get on major news shows.
Alan, kailyKos has this:
(dKos). I don’t get it based upon bloggers here who have said Kos is a
sensationalcensorship guy.“People are strange when you’re a stranger …”
In this interview, Holt successfully links his HR811 with voter confidence that votes are being counted and accurately.
Don’t let him get away with this!
Why is he persisting with HR811?! His persistence reminds me totally of our public education bureaucracy persisting in its insistence that No Child Left Behind is basically a life-saving law for America’s public school students, and that all we have to do to “make it good” is to re-shape, reframe, reauthorize, and strengthen it!
No, no, no, and no!!! Dump HR811 and write a GOOD piece of election reform legislation!
All paper ballots scanned into a optical scan voting machine should include a unique identifying number so that they can be tracked in the event of a recount.
By doing this,the possible scenarios including “ballot stuffing” and issues of chain of custody should they arise can be zeroed in on and culpability can then be determined or some other explanation can be arrived at.
Holt’s bill should include this as a mandatory requirement. This would go a long way toward discouraging those who would game the system and also would make our elections more “democratic”.
We have to hand count the paper ballots in the precinct, immediately after the polls close and with members of the public watching. Google Nancy Tobi for details
Well why wouldn’t every state want to do the RIGHT THING? Jus asking!
How about some standard chain of custody procedures along with those paper ballot
OPTIONAL LEGISLATURE??????????????????????????
But hey, nice to see some national coverage on the scandously quiet internal threat to democracy. Thanks Keith and Rush!