There is still time to call or fax your US Representative. The vote will probably be tomorrow, or more likely on Monday.
Two main groups are opposing and stalling HR811 right now -
1. activists who are insisting on a DRE ban - and the NY Times has joined them in calling for a DRE ban,
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/opinion/06thu1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
and the other extreme
2. The National Association of Counties (NaCO) who is representing election officials who want no changes at all, to keep their DREs with paper rolls forever, despite all the evidence recently from New Jersey that DRE paper rolls do not accurately record votes, and who do not want elections subjected to independent scrutiny or any changes which would take effect in 2008.
Here are NaCO's concerns in their words:
* Multibillion-dollar unfunded mandate
* Preempts state laws allowing a reel-to-reel paper trail
* Requires many counties to replace their equipment twice - once in 2008 and again in 2012
* Requires parallel voting systems - new electronic systems that don't yet exist along with sufficient pre-printed paper ballots for all voters
* Imposes cumbersome and untested audit process
* Prohibits recounts using any automated equipment
* Prevents the use of vote centers and early voting unless county officials print thousands of different ballot styles in multiple languages for each location
* Ignores EAC standards and voting system certification
Some people are working on a response to NaCO's positions. (some of what NaCO objects to should be reason enough to support the bill, and some of their statements are flatly wrong or illogical). If you want to help with the response, please contact me.
Unfortunately, both groups opposing the current form of HR811 could have the effect of putting our 2008 elections in danger by causing HR811 not to pass.
HR811's audits are sufficient (3%, 5%, or 10%) to give candidates 98% to 99% certainty, on average, that all US House and Senate races and the US Presidential races are decided accurately by voters. (See "Federal Election Audits – Which is Best?" June 2007
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/ComparisonFederalElectionAuditProposals.pdf) It is not possible for federal legislation to make requirements for non-Federal races.
While anyone who has sufficiently studied the issue wants to eliminate DREs, it is unnecessary for HR811 to ban them outright because just by imposing reasonable requirements we all want for elections, DREs must go the way of the dinosaurs.
HR811 would provide incentive, funding, requirements, and opportunity that would encourage the elimination of flawed electronic-ballot DREs before November 2008 in virtually every jurisdiction using paperless DREs.
Without HR811 many other jurisdictions, will be using paperless DREs in the 2008 election.
States that use PAPERLESS DREs and need HR811 to pass now include:
DE, GA, LA, MD, SC, TN (entirely paperless DREs for voting on election day) and some counties in AR (3 counties), CO, DC, FL, IN, IA, KY, KS, MS (2 counties), NJ, PA, TX, WI (1 county).
The following states use DRE voting machines which are incapable of having printers added and would need to be entirely replaced by 2008: GA, MD, VA, DE, TN, and KY - and so are prime candidates for immediately replacing their DREs by November 2008 with more economical, reliable, auditable, less vulnerable paper ballot optical scan systems.
If HR811 does not pass and elections are inaccurate in these states, then the office of the U.S. President and the control of the US Congress could be decided incorrectly in 2008; and the fate of the U.S. and the world put at risk.
HR811's election audits would result in roughly an average 98% probability that the smallest amount of vote miscount that could wrongly alter an election outcome is detected in all US Senate and House races. See
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/ComparisonFederalElectionAuditProposals.pdf
So enemies of HR811 are:
- stepping up their distortions about the bill now, or
- trying to add poison pills to the bill which would be likely to make the bill fail to pass; or cause its 2008 implementation to be gutted.
It is critically important therefore, if you have not already done so, for you to call or fax your US Representative now and ask
"Vote "YES" on HR811 and vote "NO" on the unfunded mandate amendment.
Find your Rep's contact info at
http://www.house.gov or call (202) 224-3121 (the House of Representatives' general number) directly.
NOTE: YOU MUST CALL OR FAX. No other communication will reach your Representative in time.
PLEASE DONATE - WE NEED FUNDS URGENTLY
We only received about $100 total in response to our request for donations. While that is very appreciated, it is not enough. There is a huge amount of work to be done yet to finish deriving and explaining the mathematics and procedures for conducting valid election audits. NEDA did not get funded by PEW to finish its work in this area, so we need your help. Please donate to the National Election Data Archive. We urgently need to raise sufficient funds to hire an additional staff person to keep up with the growing work-load. NEDA could accomplish a lot more if there were sufficient donations to pay just one person's salary. (Our financials are available here for your review:
http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/financial/FinancialStmts2004-2006.pdf) Please donate whatever amount you can by credit card, PayPal, or by mailing a check. Even $5 or $10/month would be a big help. Please donate. We need your on-going help. Thank you. See
http://electionarchive.org/fairelection/donate.html
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kathy Dopp Executive Director, National Election Data Archive
http://electionarchive.org
P.O. Box 682556 Park City, UT 84068
phone 435-658-4657
"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph" Haile Selassie
Please forward this widely. Thank you. MORE INFO
Electronic Frontier Foundation "Crunch Time for E-Voting Reform"
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005421.php
Verified Voting's "How Long Does it Take to Change Voting Systems"
http://electionmathematics.org/em-voting-systems/VotingSystemChange.pdf
NEDA's easy-to-read, accurate analysis of HR811
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Analysis-HR811-Aug2007.pdf
The most recent text of HR811
http://verifiedvoting.org/downloads/MANAG_01A_xml4.pdf
See how much money your state has left of HAVA funding on pp. 8 and 9 in the US Election Assistance report
http://www.eac.gov/docs/Congressional%20Report%20Public%20Release%20Final.pdf
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=HR811
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kathy+Dopp
