TELL THE HOUSE TO PASS H.R. 550 (PAPER BALLOT VOTING REFORM) AS WRITTEN
In the next two weeks there will be a final push to get H.R. 550, a bill introduced by Rep. Holt of New Jersey, on the House floor.
H.R. 550 would protect the integrity of our elections by requiring a voter verified paper record of every vote, requiring mandatory random hand counted audits to verify the accuracy of electronic tallies.
We only have until April 6 to fully mobilize on this. Please forward a link to this action page to everyone else you know. This is the only way to ever conduct an audit we can trust. It will also prohibit the use of secret software and wireless communication devices in voting machines.
The recent change in leadership of the Committee on House Administration has created a new opportunity for passage of this vital election integrity measure. Previous constituent meetings in June and August of 2005 were a huge success, generating 24 new co-sponsors on the bill from both parties. In addition, 27 States have now passed voter-verified paper record requirements.
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SUBMIT THIS ACTION FORM TO THE HOUSE & YOUR LOCAL PAPER:
You can also use the one click form directly below to send your personal message to your house member at once
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""
At the same time you can send your personal comments only as a letter to the editor of your nearest
local daily newspaper if you like. This particular action page will also add your name to a petition (prepared text below form) to the House Administration Committee. Click here for arguments.
Petition message to the members of the House Administration Committee:
Members of the House Administration Committee
1309 Longworth House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
Dear Members of the House Administration Committee
On September 19, 2005, the Commission on Federal Election Reform co-chaired by President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker issued its Final Report. The Report, among other things, called on Congress to enact legislation requiring both a voter verified paper ballot of every vote and routine random audits to check the accuracy of electronic voting.
Voting integrity activists who have been championing this cause for several years are pleased that the Commission confirmed the need for this critical security measure. However, the report also recommends that the status of the voter verified paper ballot should be determined by states rather than mandated as the ballot of record nationwide. This means that any individual state can decide to disregard the only record that the voter has confirmed in favor of the record inside the electronic machine and make the voter verified paper ballot a meaningless and expensive placebo. In addition, the report suggests that pre-election machine "audits" may also be acceptable. Such audits would constitute simply another pre-election machine test, and should not be confused with meaningful independent audits of actual election results.
Rep. Rush Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550) will, however, mandate an effective and meaningful voter-verified paper record and independent audit requirements. It already has the bipartisan support of 1/3 of the House of Representatives, and has been endorsed by VoteTrustUSA and VerifiedVoting.org as the "gold standard" in verifiability legislation. Not only would it mandate a voter verified paper record for every vote cast, it would also:
(1) establish a mandatory uniform national standard that states that the voter verified paper ballot -- the only record verified by the voter rather than the voting machine -- is the vote of record in the case of any inconsistency with electronic records;
(2) provide Federal funding to pay for implementation of voter verified paper balloting;
(3) require a percentage of mandatory manual (by hand count) random audits of actual election results in every state, and in each county, for every Federal election;
(4) prohibit the use at any time of undisclosed software, wireless communication devices, and internet connections in voting machines;
(5) require full implementation by 2006; and
(6) protect the accessibility mandates of the Help America Vote Act.
The language in this bill was carefully written with input from computer scientists, disabilities organizations, and election reform advocates. It should be passed as written and in time to protect the 2006 elections.
There are many politically contentious election reform issues mentioned in the report but making sure that votes are counted accurately is not one of them. Elections are the foundation of a representative democracy, and representative democracy lives or dies based on the integrity of its elections. HR 550 will help restore voters' confidence and ensure the accuracy and integrity of America's elections.
We urge you to pass HR 550 as written immediately.
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