ACTION ALERT: Amend Holt bill HR 811!!!

It's pretty esoteric if not plain boring I admit, election integrity issues that is...wouldn't you just like to solve some other bigger problem, like the occupation of Iraq?

Oh wait, there would BE NO OCCUPATION OF IRAQ had the 2000 elections *had* the integrity we are yammering about now!

So, now that I have (some) of your attention, let me say that had you listened to my show you would have heard two cases for amending HR811, the bill introduced to do the job the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) has failed to do and *that* bill was introduced to prevent another presidential appointment ala Florida 2000.

The bad news you need to know is that Holt 811 in its current form, like HAVA of 2002, has requirements that are going to be *impossible* for states to enact in time for 2008. In case you don't know what it looks like when election laws are half-enacted, let me direct you to Ohio 2004. Yes, HAVA requirements were only partly in place in Ohio and with the HAVA legislative interpretative wiggle room and the Secretary of State (Ken Blackwell) being a "bad" actor, well, you remember Ohio....

So if you don't want one complicated piece of legislation complicating another in time for a 2008 melt-down, you will NEED TO ACT THIS WEEK because on this April Friday the 13th, the Holt bill goes into "mark-up", i.e. revision.

These are your choices:

1 --

from Abbe Waldman DeLozier and other Hand Counted Paper Ballot proponents; reintroduction of Representative Dennis Kucinich's HR 6200 (September 27, 2006) to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 requiring states to conduct Presidential elections using paper ballots and count those ballots by hand. To learn more about and best understand the position of the Hand Counted Paper Ballot position visit Democracy for New Hampshire.

2 --

keep HR811 with at least four election integrity-agreed-upon amendments. If you'd like to know more about the HR811 as currently written and constructive criticism for the amendments visit Election Defense Alliance and Voters Unite.org

When you have come to your own conclusion on which of the two approaches best suits your conscience DO the following:

• (UPDATE 4-10-2007) Make your own pass-out flyer by combining this1-page diagram from Voters Unite combined on the other side with this key point explanation of the issue from me (pdf) to send, give or fax!
  
• Go to www.blackboxvoting.org and download the 98 page citizens handbook. Pick 1 or 2 actions to do in the handbook. It is loaded with detailed simple action items.
  
• Contact your state representatives at their local and Washington DC offices
  
• Talk with their legislative aids and inform them on the issues as you understand them
• Ask that your concerns be met either by:

Reintroduction of Representative Dennis Kucinich's HR 6200 (September 27, 2006) to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and require States to conduct Presidential elections using paper ballots and count those ballots by hand.

OR at least,

Amend HR811 with these minimums:

1. Ban electronic ballots and the e-voting machines (DREs) that create them.

2. Do not require not-yet-invented text conversion in every polling place.

3. Require all recounts to be hand counted paper ballots.

4. Prohibit all Internet connections to voting systems.

That's it. That's all. But doing something in this case is as vital to your future as any activism you may undertake on any other political issue: effective election reform *is* the silver bullet for which you have been waiting.