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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: redfish who wrote (8843)	3/2/2005 4:05:16 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 361328

Dear """"""" As you know, there are many problems with our voting system that need to be fixed soon. Here at Common Cause, we are working at the federal, state, and local level to pass reforms that will fix our flawed election system. While some of the problems with our election system may take several years to solve, we believe that with your help, we can fix one of the major concerns - the security and integrity of electronic voting machines - in this session of Congress. Many of you were among the tens of millions of Americans who voted this fall on an electronic machine. Did you wonder where your votes went after touching that screen? Do you have confidence that your vote was counted as cast? We can address this concern if all voting systems are required to provide a voter-verified paper ballot. The good news is that this issue has strong bipartisan support in Congress. U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) has already introduced legislation - HR 550 - that requires that every voting system have a paper record that can be verified by the voter before finally casting his or her vote. So, touch-screen machines would have to print a paper ballot recording your vote. We can pass this reform bill with your support. Please call your representative today and ask him or her to support this bill. Click on the following link, and you will find your representative either by entering a nine-digit zip code or your mailing address. You can then click on your representative's name to get the phone number: www.commoncause.org/findelectedofficials Urge your representative to support the Holt bill (HR 550) for a voter-verified paper ballot. The Holt bill sets a high standard for integrity and security, while acknowledging the need for accessibility. Its passage would go a long way toward making our election system more secure and giving voters confidence in their vote. Furthermore, the Holt bill not only ensures the voter's confidence that the vote was counted as cast, but it allows a real recount. Right now, in places that use paperless electronic machines, the recount means nothing - election officials just push the button and get the same count (right or wrong) over and over again. That happened in Nevada in 1998. Now Nevada has voting machines with a paper trail and both Nevada senators, Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R), support legislation (S 330) to make this a nationwide requirement. While the paper ballot requirement has widespread public support, we'll need to generate strong bipartisan support to move any legislation in Congress. The Holt bill already has 102 cosponsors, but we need to double that to put real pressure on the leadership to bring the bill to a vote. So, please call your Representative today and ask them to support HR 550: www.commoncause.org/findelectedofficials Please also make sure to tell all your friends and family members who are concerned about our election system about this specific citizen lobbying effort. Urge them to put in a call to their representatives in support of a bill providing for a voter verified paper ballot: www.commoncause.org/LobbyforPaperTrail Your calls will be especially important to show congressional leaders that they must allow a vote on this issue soon. After you have made your calls please, let us know how your calls went by posting your thoughts and feedback on our blog. There are other bills that address this issue and we'll be coming back to you for help on those, too. Meanwhile, please make sure to continuously check our blog for regular updates on election reform related activities. Thank you again for all you do to protect our democracy. Sincerely, Barb, Ed, Mary, Lisa, Jenny, DJ, Susannah, Rachel, & Murshed Common Cause Election Reform Team Support Common Cause www.commoncause.org/support