I credit "Democratic Underground" for Florida dumping touchscreens.

[Eric J in MN]

DU pushed the issue of paperless voting when almost no other website did.

And pushed it again and again until it caught on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070503/tc_pcworld/131544

In a major shift on e-voting that could ripple to other states, the Florida legislature Friday voted to replace nearly all of the state's touch-screen voting systems with optical scan devices.


Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who initially offered up the bill mandating a change in e-voting systems earlier this year, applauded the Florida legislature for acting after the state House approved the measure. It had already been okayed by the state Senate.


The law mandates the replacement of touch-screen systems with optical scan devices and also moves up the date of Florida's presidential primary to the last Tuesday in January. In 2008, that would be Jan. 29.


Touch-screen systems have come under criticism for being unreliable, easily hacked and lacking the transparency voters need to trust that their votes are actually being counted. To address those concerns, Crist offered a bill that would replace the systems in 17 Florida counties with optical scan devices, which require filling out a paper ballot that can later be used for canvassing or recount.

[valerief]

1. Don't forget Bradblog.com nt

[bonito]

18. Right, and Clint Curtis also n/t

[faithnotgreed]

30. bradblog is a consistent leader on this

thank you brad and thank your blog too

[Matariki]

2. Now we should push for hand counting the vote. Like in Canada. n/t

[Eric J in MN]

6. Ask your Congressperson to support HR 6200...

...Dennis Kucinich's bill to hand-count presidential races:

http://electionfraudblog.com/index.php/dennis-kucinich-... /


Paper Ballot Act of 2006 (Introduced in House)
H. R. 6200

A BILL

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to conduct Presidential elections using paper ballots and to count those ballots by hand, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Paper Ballot Act of 2006'.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING USE OF HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

`(7) SPECIAL RULES FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS- Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, in the case of a regularly scheduled general election for the electors of President and Vice President (beginning with the election in November 2008), the following rules shall apply:

`(A) The State shall conduct the election using only paper ballots.

`(B) The State shall ensure that the number of ballots cast at a precinct or equivalent location which are placed inside a single box or similar container does not exceed 500.

`(C) The ballots cast at a precinct or equivalent location shall be counted by hand by election officials at the precinct, and a representative of each political party with a candidate on the ballot, as well as any interested member of the public, may observe the officials as they count the ballots. The previous sentence shall not apply with respect to provisional ballots cast under section 302(a).'.

[Matariki]

12. Excellent, Thank you. n/t

[blm]

23. Till I'm blue in the face.....

.

[madokie]

3. Theres no doubt that this community is on the cutting edge

Thanks to the wise folks who gave it birth and have allowed it to grow up and flourish ;-)

[TahitiNut]

4. Better but not sufficient unless there's a mandatory manual audit of paper ballots

... that must statistically validate the elections with a 98% confidence interval. The number of ballots so counted should be expanded until the validation is achieved. A failure of the equipment to meet such an audit must be investigated and the cause of the failure determined. If the failure is due to human intervention, a felony should be ascribed and prosecuted.

[bobbolink]

5. Optiscan?? I thought I had read paper ballots... false alarm on the celebration...

hold the bubbles...

[Eric J in MN]

7. They're paper. They're counted by machine, but people mark them with pens. NT

NT

[bobbolink]

9. No Better!

If you remember Andy's many posts on the subjects, this isn't a big improvement.

sigh....

Same corruption, different machine.

:nuke:

I guess we have to learn the hard way on EVERYTHING

[wakeme2008]

15. GREAT improvement...

They can be Recounted

[bobbolink]

28. Please read what our dear Andy had to say about Optiscan.

We're settling for more problems.

We already know that the RW has been working on rigging the 08 election. (remember the judges getting fired over this?!) So, since they know that many have gone to *these* machines, I'm sure they're prepared to take advantage of the problems with them.

Or, maybe it just doesn't matter. :shrug:

[flyarm]

33. gee Andy knew damn well many of us in Fla had no way to recount a damn thing..since

we had a fucking machine that swapped our votes or didn't count them at all..and we had not one way to verify a damn thing..

zero zilch...

ANDY WOULD BE HAPPY TODAY..AND HOW DO I KNOW?? I WORKED DIRECTLY WITH ANDY TRAINING PEOPLE HERE IN FLA TO GET WHERE WE ARE TODAY!!

ITS 100,000000000 TIMES BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAD...

and i know that how?? i was one of 5 in my county to test the machines and saw the vote i put into the machine switch..and there was no way at all to verify what i put into the damn machine! Other than a camera and a verifier ...

oh and did you know "dear Andy"..i did very well..

Andy would be very happy today..and i believe he is smiling down at us in Fla today!

fly

[SoCalDem]

16. Smaller precincts.. more people counting..

no machines necessary..

Run the ballots through amchines for the local & state races, but hand counts for national offices..

I favor splitting off the natinal offices on a separate ballot..

In some years there would be only 1 choice (congresscritters are every 2..senate every 6 and pres every4)

If people want to vote on all the other stuff, fine.. but at least by peeling off the "contentious and most important", they could easily be recounted..and if the machine comes up with a different number, it would surely be easier to recount if one had separate ballots..paper ballots..marked with a sharpie pen.and counted by humans

[bobbolink]

27. It depends how seriously we want to take our Democracy, and how much we

care about our country.

That's it in a nutshell.

[annabanana]

10. The paper IS the ballot of record. They are the legal doc for recounts.

I agree that hand counting is the holy grail of accurate elections, but getting the ballot on paper is a good first step.

[bobbolink]

13. I do hear you. But Optiscan has the same corruption in the counting as

the touchscreens.

Same/same.

As I said, I guess we must learn the hard way on EVERYTHING.

I hope we appreciate it when we've lost it. :shrug:

[graywarrior]

8. We should give some credit to Christine Jennings, too.

[SharonAnn]

14. Yes, she's had the courage to contest the election every step of the way.

[flyarm]

19. there are 4 others in fla who have contested as well..currently

and our own dem party in fla has equally been the problem until after this 2006 election!!

the dem party in Fla would not discuss the problem with the dre's..with those of us begging the dem party to step up to the plate..no matter what, they would not address the problems..zero..zilch.....they put a wall up and fought ..we the people , over these damn machines..the laughed at those of us who were trying to get clean elections..they rolled their eyes at us..and made many snarky remarks about us..

it took alot of work educating "we the people" of Fla that their votes were being stolen..

there are many people in the state of Fla to thank for this..and it begins with Ion Sancho, John Russell, Vote Trust USA Pamela Haengel,Kindra Muntz Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections, Jennings,the ACLU and their legal team, and People for the American Way, Clint Curtis and many, many people who dedicated themselves to bringing fair elections to the State Of Florida..people who swam up river , when the republican and dem party were flushing us down river. ( i know i am leaving out many names ..not deliberately ..)


People in Florida..regular people ... sat in cars 24/7 with cameras..watching the warehouses where the machines were kept..and took notes on who entered and exited..many people became poll watchers, many people just became watchers of what was going on in every way.

many many many people did fund raisers to educate the masses in Florida..many went to democratic and republican clubs and conventions ..to educate..

there were and are... so many silent soldiers who made this happen..with no fan fare..and worked their asses off..i applaude them all!!

I would be remiss to not mention my dear friend Andy..who i know is smiling down on us today..

Andy Stephenson worked behind the scenes when he was very ill to educate people of what and how to recognize problems and what to do about it..and how to educate people about VVPB..i know because i hooked him up with the people here in Fla! and he worked with them until he died..all behind the scenes..with no limelight, when he was a very sick man.

we learned, along with Andy , how Bev Harris had screwed us and lied to us after the 2004 election!

Yes there are many many silent soldiers who made this happen...

and i thank them all..but all our "THANKS" will come when we can walk into a polling place and vote , and think our votes finally count!!

fly ..in Fla.

[flyarm]

22. ADDING TO THE LIST OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE HELPED FLORIDA GET PAPER BALLOTS..

THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE HELPED FLORIDA GET PAPER BALLOTS...

i want to add to that list..

ANDY STEPHENSON..who helped so many of us ..behind the scenes ..to do what we had to to get this done!!

He is our Angel..and i KNOW .he is smiling down upon us now..

Andy..kiddo..we did it!..you did it!! and all your helpers did it!!

Again i will add to that list , the so many silent workers who have done so much to bring this 'sabout..WITHOUT ALL THE HARD WORK OF SO MANY "WE THE PEOPLE'S" THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE!!


National Organizations - Alphabetical by Organization

Ralph Miller, Executive Director, Latinos for America
Megan Matson, Director, Mainstreet Moms
Pamela Smith, President, VerifiedVoting.org
Dan McCrea, Florida State Director, Voter Action
John Gideon, Executive Director, VotersUnite.org
Joan Krawitz, Executive Director, VoteTrustUSA

State of Florida Organizations - Alphabetical by Organization

Howard Simon, Executive Director, ACLU of Florida
Jeannette D. Wynn, President, Florida Council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Cynthia Hall, President, Florida AFL-CIO
Ellen Brodsky, Executive Director, Broward Election Reform Coalition (BERC)
Susan Pynchon, Executive Director, Florida Fair Elections Coalition (FFEC)
Ion Sancho, Supervisor of Elections, Leon County Department of Elections
Trevor Harvey, President, Sarasota County Branch, NAACP
Susan Van Houten, Co-Founder, Palm Beach Coalition for Election Reform
Brad Ashwell, Florida Public Interest Research Group (PIRG)
Kindra Muntz, President, Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE)
Sevell C. Brown III, Florida State President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Jim Pillow, Political Coordinator - Teamsters Local 385 Orlando
Fred Seidl, Coordinator, Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry, Florida
Gene Jones, Florida Veterans for Common Sense
Pamela Haengel, President, Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay (VIA Tampa Bay)

I THANK ALL OF THESE PEOPLE..AND SALUTE THEM ALL...FOR SAVING MY VOTE AND THE VOTES OF MY FELLOW FLORIDIANS!!

FLY..DEM DELEGATE FOR PINELLAS COUNTY FLORIDA

[fooj]

24. And he was afraid that his work might be in vain...

Never! Andy's favorite place...



We'll have to visit the Japanese Gardens...together. :hug:

Andy's strength of spirit brought so many of us together. He lives on through us...

[troubleinwinter]

25. THANK YOU to ALL the great patriots who have worked for this!

But you forgot one... she goes by 'flyarm'. THANK YOU fly, for all you do and have done.

Thank you, Andy, for being such a great and dedicated teacher.

[troubleinwinter]

26. Hey, ya know what?

Your post reminded me it's time to send another donation to my favorite org. on that list!

I am off now to their site to put in a little 'scratch' as thanks and to support the great organization of dedicated people who really work in the trenches to get things accomplished.

Thanks, fly, for the reminder to support them!!!

[flyarm]

29. GREAT IDEA!! MY $$$ WENT TO PAYING FOR ALOT OF THE LEGAL

WORK .. when we could get no one else to help pay for it!!

real legal work!!

Then ACLU chipped in when we got the first real legal work done!!

but it took alot of work by alot of dedicated people..people who never got sleep and put alot of mileage on their cars..and their lives!!

I am so damn proud today of all those who committed their lives to this!!

I just got an email from one of our ladies ( VOTETRUSTUSA) from Tallahassee who was in the Congress for the vote..this is a LADY WHO WAS LAUGHED AT AND TREATED SO RUDELY BY THE DEMS AT THE DEM CONVENTION!!..AND SENT HOME IN TEARS WHEN WE BEGAN THIS JOURNEY.

yes ..my money goes to Votetrustusa..they have been with us from the get go..and have helped us in everyway possible!!

Thank You VOTETRUSTUSA!!

FLY

[troubleinwinter]

32. Yes.

Glad you mentioned the real work done by VoteTrustUSA, so (since I just happened to be on their donation page today) I thought I'd post the link in hopes others will offer some support for the work these folks do. http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109&Itemid=97

[BlooInBloo]

11. I love my touchscreen!

http://www.archos.com/products/video/archos_604wifi/index.html?country=global&lang=en

Best toy EVER!

:)

[Hubert Flottz]

17. I think the GOP will try and steal California next time.

And the Groppenfuhrer will help them.

[Mister Ed]

21. People must give California State SOS Deb Bowen all possible support.

The GOP will certainly try to steal California. With its 55 electoral votes California is El Dorado, the motherlode, the prize of prizes.

Thank heaven California has a Secretary of State who is determined to keep elections fair. Because she stands between the GOP and the Ultimate Prize, I predict that she will be savagely attacked from every angle. She will need support, and lots of it.

[fooj]

31. Try to? They already screwed California...

Think RECALL, think Enron, think rolling blackouts, think Ahnuld...

I'm so glad that I worked for Debra Bowen! She was the ONLY choice, imo.

[Mister Ed]

20. Many, many people and orgs deserve credit. But DU is where I learned about them all.

So here's my salute to the veterans of the DU Election Reform forum.

:patriot:

It's been a long, hard slog since Black Tuesday, 2004. And there are many battles ahead. But once again, I want to express my gratitude to the Election Reform activists of DU.