Stop HR 811 - take the time to watch this video

Written by: Patrick Briggs on Sep 7, 2007 1:46 AM EDT

Mr. Holt's bill would solve many of these problems. It would require machines used in federal elections to produce "voter-verifiable paper records," a paper record of every ballot cast that voters could check to ensure that their choices were properly recorded. Those records would then be audited to confirm the accuracy of the machine totals. The bill would also crack down on testing laboratories' conflicts of interest.

It is unfortunate that the bill does not contain a provision banning the use of touch-screen voting machines. A touch-screen ban would encourage states to use optical scan machines, which rely on paper ballots read by a computer, like a standardized test form. Optical scans are less expensive and less vulnerable to vote theft.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/opinion/06thu1.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

I'd also advise you to take a look at this video on HR 811:

http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/node/view/4613

These groups are against HR 811:

CITIZEN ACTION GROUPS AND LEADERS OPPOSED TO THE HOLT BILL:

1. "Candidate for Congress CA District 12 Libertarian Party 2004 & 2006" Harland Harrison CA
2. 30th District Democrats WA 98023
3. 8th Ward 24th Division Philadelphia;
4. Aaron Freeman, comedian and actor
5. Abbe Waldman Delozier, Editor, "Hacked"
6. Al Kolwicz, Election Watchdog, Colorado
7. Arvada Peace & Justice
8. Atlantic Media Ltd. Portsmouth NH
9. AUDITAZ (Americans United for Integrity and Transparency in
Elections)
10. Barry Gordon, radio talk host, former president of SAG, actor
11. Bev Harris, BlackBoxVoting.ORG
12. Black Box Voting
13. Bruce Funk, County Clerk, Emery County, Utah
14. Bruce O'Dell, Computer security systems analyst and election integrity activist
15. Camille Khattar , Precinct Chair 14, Democratic Party of Collin County, North Texas
16. Central New York Voting Integrity Committee
17. Citizens to Stop Computerized Voting Richard Borkowski Seattle WA 98102
18. Coalition for Visible Ballots
19. Coalition for Voting Integrity
20. Coloradoans for Voting Integrity CFVI
21. Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity
22. Columbia County Democratic Central Committee -
23. CONCENTRIC MEDIA
24. Democracy for America - Temecula Valley
25. Democracy for Colorado
26. Democracy for Flagstaff
27. Democracy for New Hampshire
28. Democracy for New Hampshire Fair Elections Committee
29. Democracy for Oklahoma City Co-coordinator - Democratic Precinct Chair - Oklahoma Democratic Party IT Committee member Linda Wade Oklahoma City OK
30. Democracy for Oregon
31. Democracy for Texas/Bastrop Co chapter Marsha Correira Elgin TX 78621
32. Ed Asner, Actor
33. Editor and Publisher - Totally Fixed and Rigged Magazine; President - Positronic Design
34. Editor/Publisher - Online Review of Books & Current Affairs J.F. Miglio
35. Election Defense Alliance
36. Election Integrity
37. Election Integrity Task Force
38. Freedom Socialist Party
39. Harland Harrison, Candidate for Congress, CA District 12, Libertarian Party, 2004 & 2006
40. Harvey Wasserman, Author, election integrity journalist
41. Howard Zinn, author and historian
42. Jackson Action Jackson MS
43. Jasper County Democrats Elliott Denniston Webb City MO 64870
44. Jeanie Williams-West , Local Democratic Party Executive Committee, State central committee, local parish executive committee
45. Jeffco Democrats Jefferson County
46. Joan Brunwasser, Voting Integrity Editor, OpEdNews
47. Josh Mitteldorf
48. Larry L. Jackson , 2006 Chair 30th District Democrats
49. Lassen Progressives, California
50. Latinos for America
51. Mark Crispin Miller, Author
52. Mary Patee , H D # 27 Chair Jeffco Democrats, Jefferson Count - Arvada Peace & Justice
53. Memphis Operation Election Integrity
54. Merrimack Town Democratic Chair - New Hampshire State Democratic Party Committee Member Andrew Sylvia Merrimack NH 3054
55. Midwest Minutemen
56. National Ballot Integrity Project
57. New Hampshire Ballot Integrity Task Force
58. New Hampshire Citizens Alliance
59. New Hampshire PIRG
60. New Hampshire Women Making a Difference
61. Northeast Citizens for Responsible Media
62. OpEd News
63. Paul Lehto, Election law attorney
64. Paul Rogat Loeb, Author and activist
65. People Who Give a Damn, Inc.
66. Philadelphians Against Santorum
67. Pima County Democratic Party Election Integrity Committee
68. Pinellas County Democratic Party
69. Precinct 14 Democratic Party of Collin County North Texas
70. Presents for the Planet
71. Progressive Democrats of America-- Metro San Diego chapter
72. Protect California Ballots
73. Psephos, San Diego, CA
74. Representative Andrew J. Edwards, Nashua, NH 03062
75. Representative Eileen Ehlers, Hooksett, NH
76. Representative Lily Mesa, Manchester, NH
77. Rob Kall, Owner and Chief Editor, OpEdNews
78. Sacramento For Democracy
79. San Diego Democracy For America
80. San Diego Metro-Progressive Democrats of America
81. San Francisco Election Integrity League
82. SAVE R VOTE, Riverside County, CA
83. Senator Jackie Cilley, NH District 6
84. Show Me The Vote - Missouri
85. Steve Freeman, Election activist
86. Steve Heller, Diebold Election Systems whistleblower
87. The San Mateo Election Integrity League
88. Thom Hartmann, Journalist
89. TrueVoteSanDiego
90. United Methodist Church Arvada CO
91. Vickie Karp, Editor, "Hacked"
92. Vote Rescue, Austin, Texas
93. Vote.org
94. Voters Unite
95. We Do Not Concede
96. Where's the Paper
97. White Bear Lake Peace Group
98. Women for Democracy and Fair Elections
99. Women Making a Difference - NH
100. YubaNet News
101. Congressman Dennis Kucinich
102. Congressman Ed Markey

Further thoughts on this from Mark Crispin Miller( http://www.markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com/ )

In July 2007 Mark Crispin Miller revealed what Congressman Rush Holt's counsel had to say to voting integrity activists about this latest "compromise" version of HR811:

There is no doubt that Rush Holt has, in working on his bill, unduly heeded the concerns of interested corporations. This is not a speculation but a fact, which was revealed to me straightforwardly by Holt's own counsel, Michelle Mulder, who is, of course, a fervent advocate for HR 811. Recently Michelle tried, via email, to respond to some of the concerns expressed by me and several other activists, at one point asserting that the bill will not legitimize the use of secret vote-counts.

In response, I pointed out that the continued use of DRE machines, which HR 811 would permit, makes secret vote-counting inevitable, since there's no way to watch computers add up votes, or send them on to tabulators, or manage any other data.

And then I made this second point about the actual secretiveness enabled by Holt's bill:

"Unless this point in the legislation has been changed, the bill as marked up in committee now stipulates that the e-voting software be available only to 'qualified' individuals, who must sign strict non-disclosure agreements."

(This was an extraordinary change, because the early version of the bill had ordered that such software must be readily available to everyone. See my vlog on this.)

And here is Mulder's staggering reply:

"That's not what the bill said when introduced. Therefore, you can take up your concerns with Microsoft and others in the proprietary software industry. During Committee proceedings they lobbied very heavily against the language that was in the bill as introduced and none of you lobbied in favor of the language that was in the bill as introduced, and thus, the software industry won. It's very simple, really."

In other words, companies like Microsoft, Diebold and ES&S had problems with the early version of Holt's bill; and Holt himself not only listened to them, but obliged them, so that his "election reform"
bill would now make our system even more undemocratic than it is already. Of this development Holt's office made no public mention, as if those private companies' dictation of the law was no big deal.

And this, Holt's counsel says, is not Holt's problem. In fact, it's our fault, for not having "lobbied very heavily" for our position (which would have been a little hard, since Holt's people have consistently refused to talk or listen to the bill's opponents).

Since when do progressives compromise THIS much on something so important!?

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Location: Pasadena, CA 91104