Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 28, 2004 The threat of electronic voting machines Finally, after all these months, the problem of paperless electronic voting machines is getting some attention, not only in the media, but also belatedly on Capitol Hill. Electronic voting machines without a "paper trail" represent one of the most daunting threats to American democracy. This November an estimated 30 percent of the voters will use them. Not only are these machines subject to frequent errors and malfunctions, but they are an invitation to fraud. No paper trail, no recount. Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate to require all electronic voting machines to have a voter-verified permanent record. Democratic congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey introduced such a bill in May of last year. At present it has 147 sponsors. There are three bills in the Senate with a total of 13 sponsors, but none of these bills can be voted on until they are released from their respective committees. Republican committee chairs, who set the agendas, are blocking any discussion of them, and in a strange political twist, ranking Democratic members are not pushing them because of deals they had made earlier not to amend the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). HAVA authorized $4 billion to the states for getting rid of the old voting machines and replacing them with electronic machines, but the Act makes no mention of paper receipts. This is a classic example of reacting too quickly and doing something stupid. Senator John Ensign, a Republican from Nevada, recognized the problem back in 2002 and introduced an amendment to HAVA for this purpose, but it was defeated. In May, he introduced another bill, S.2437, which is supported by some advocacy groups but that has few co-sponsors to date. In another political anomaly, the president of the one organization you would think would be most concerned about fairness and propriety in voting systems, the League of Women Voters, came out against bills requiring paper verification. She only changed her mind when hundreds of furious members challenged her and got the League to take a position supporting verification. However, the League still didn't actually endorse paper trails or any particular bill. Although Nevada has installed, tested, and certified paper-trail voting machines for the entire state in time for its September 7 primary, it is probably too late for most other states to gear up with these reliable machines for the 2004 election. However, some certainly could, and they could outlaw the worst culprit (Diebold machines), as they have in California. Also, they could delay the purchase of electronic machines and just continue to use existing equipment until they are able to purchase and install machines with paper trails. Despite the discouraging shortness of time before the election, it still makes sense to tell members of Congress of our concern about this alarming problem. Even though Oregon has a vote-by-mail system, Senator Ron Wyden has committed to co-sponsoring S.1980, the earliest of the Senate bills. We can follow his lead by calling or e-mailing friends and family members in other states, asking them to contact their own senators and representatives about this serious problem, especially members of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration (of which Gordon Smith is a member) and the Committee on House Administration. See the internet for membership rosters. The most important road-blocks are Senators Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell, and Chris Dodd, and Congressmen Bob Ney of Ohio and Steny Hoyer of Maryland. They need to let these bills out of committee so they can be voted on. Our democracy is at stake. The most complete source of information on voting machine problems and solutions, along with a list of all the senators and representatives who have co-sponsored the bills, is available from www.VerifiedVoting.org. Alice Hardesty Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams