The House Rules Committee is still holding up "The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007" (HR811). More groups join those supporting HR811.
According to Common Cause today: "For nearly two weeks now, we've been poised for a House vote on critical reform legislation that would ensure ballots are backed by paper records in the 2008 elections."
Here are two new ways you can help in just a few minutes of your time:
Back to Common Sense Voting - a new 1-page flier by SAVEourVotes.org (MD) Please fax a copy to your House Rep today
http://electionmathematics.org/CommonSenseVoting.pdf
Easy-to-use email form created by Common Cause:
http://www.getitstraightby2008.org/c.hnKKIINpEqG/b.3411415/k.1D6B/Help_us_Unblock_the_Holt_Bill/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?sid=177314304
Find your House member's Contact info:
http://www.house.gov
Here are the Rules Cmte Members (including All fax numbers):
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Rules H-312 The Capitol Washington, DC 20515, 202-225-9091
Democrats
LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER, NY - CHAIRWOMAN (D)
2469 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3615 Fax: (202) 225-7822
JAMES P. McGOVERN, MA (D)
438 Cannon Building Phone: (202) 225-6101 Fax: (202) 225-5759
ALCEE L. HASTINGS, FL (D)
2353 Rayburn Office Building Tel: (202) 225-1313 Fax: (202) 225-1171
DORIS O. MATSUI, CA (D)
222 Cannon House Office Building Phone: (202) 225-7163 Fax: (202) 225-0566
DENNIS CARDOZA, CA (D)
435 Cannon Building Phone: (202) 225-6131 Fax: 225-0819
PETER WELCH, VT (D)
1404 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone:(202) 225-4115 Fax: 202-225-6790
KATHY CASTOR, FL (D)
317 Cannon House Office Building Phone: (202)225-3376 Fax: (202)225-5652
MICHAEL ARCURI, NY (D)
327 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Phone: 202-225-3665 Fax: 202-225-1891
BETTY SUTTON, OH (D)
1721 Longworth House Office Building Phone: (202) 225-3401 Fax: (202) 225-2266
Republicans
DAVID DREIER, CA (R) Ranking Minority Member
233 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 Office (202) 225-2305 Fax (202) 225-7018
LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART, FL (R)
2244 Rayburn House Office Building
(202) 225-4211 Fax: 202-225-8576
DOC HASTINGS, WA (R)
1214 Longworth
(202) 225-5816 Fax: (202) 225-3251
PETE SESSIONS, TX (R)
1514 Longworth House Bldg.
(202) 225-2231
(202) 225-5878 fax
Kathy Jackson of Voting Matters/Oregon best rebuts those who want no independent election audits because some prior internal election auditing or prior financial auditing has been corrupted:
"That kind of argument is like saying we should eliminate crime by eliminating our criminal code of laws: it won't stop robbery and murder but they won't be crimes any more. H.R. 811 sets performance standards for federal elections. If you care about election integrity you can argue that the standards are not rigorous enough or that there should be stiffer penalties for violation but you cannot logically argue that there should be no performance standards and therefore no audit."
The US House should vote "Yes" for House Resolution 811 with its 2008 requirement for election audits in tact.
For a simple, straightforward, and easy-to-read analysis of H.R. 811 see:
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Analysis-HR811-Aug2007.pdf
PLEASE DONATE - WE NEED FUNDS TO CONTINUE OUR WORK
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
Please forward this announcement widely. We need to all contact our US Representative by this Wednesday, September 5.
"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 act now at this crucial juncture in history - to protect our future.
Sincerely,
Kathy Dopp Executive Director, National Election Data Archive
http://electionarchive.org
P.O. Box 682556 Park City, UT 84068 phone 435-658-4657
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
A newly released description of an open source paper ballot optical scan voting system which election officials may program themselves without hiring vendors to do the ballot programming
http://www.openvotingsolutions.info/present/Do%20Paper%20Trails%20fail%20to%20secure%20eVoting.pdf
1-page list of groups opposing HR811 – all of them supported by corporate memberships, including voting vendors who oppose the independent scrutiny of vote counts by independent audits
http://electionmathematics.org/em-legislation/anti-HR811-groups.pdf
3-page analysis of HR811
http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/Analysis-HR811-Aug2007.pdf
Rebuttals to the misinformation being spread by opponents of election reform
http://electionmathematics.org/VoteYesHR811.pdf http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2007/5/24/35057/3255 http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005308.php#005308 http://www.electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/FactsAboutHR811.pdf
A short, nearly exhaustive list of problems caused by using touch-screen electronic-ballot DRE voting machines:
http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/NEDA-S1487-Testimony.pdf
A list of DRE problems by John Hopkins University Computer Scientist Avi Rubin who is an expert in the security of electronic voting, the director of the National Science Foundation's project ACCURATE Center, and is also an election judge in Baltimore County.
http://avi-rubin.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-nobody-wants-to-buy-diebold.html
"Voters Have Reason to Worry – A Response to Election Officials and Others Who Urge Voters to Trust"
http://utahcountvotes.org/UT/UtahCountVotes-ThadHall-Response.pdf
E-Voting Ballots Not Secret; Vendors Don't See Problem, August 20th,
2007 by Princeton Computer Science Professor Ed Felten
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1189
Cost Comparisons between Using Optical Scan versus DRE Voting Systems:
http://electionmathematics.org and select "Voting Systems"
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=HR811
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Kathy+Dopp