LAVA: Let America Vote Act @ BradBlog

[BillORightsMan]

HCPB Minions!

HERE IT IS!

BLOGGED BY Brad ON 9/19/2006 12:41PM
THE LET AMERICA VOTE ACT!
CALL ON CONGRESS TO PASS 'EMERGENCY PAPER BALLOT LEGISLATION' NOW!
Every Registered American Voter Must Be Allowed to Vote This November!

(This is a GRASSROOTS EFFORT by Brad - NOT official legislation. Yet. -Ed.)

The legislation can, and should be, as short as a single paragraph so that it can be read and passed quickly by every U.S. Congress member. It can apply only to this November's general election, if that is needed to get it passed and signed quickly.

~snip~
All states are already required by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to have such paper ballots available at every polling place as Provisional Ballots, so those can be copied NOW if need be for use as Emergency Paper Ballots (which is better than the scraps of paper some counties reportedly have tried to use in emergency situations so far this year!)

BOTTOM LINE: With the passage of this Emergency Legislation, at least properly registered American citizens will be able to vote on Election Day if they choose to!

Feel free to call it the "Hail Mary Emergency Election Protection Act" if you want. I don't much care, so long as it's passed by Congress in time to ensure that voters can actually vote this November!

~snip~
I am hoping to have an official version/wording of the bill posted shortly. It will, of course, be available as a new item here at The BRAD BLOG no later than tomorrow. It will spell out, in official "bill-like" language, precisely what I've posted above.

Details at link...

MEANWHILE...
(email from PFAW... -Ed.)

Just two months after Congress renewed the Voting Rights Act (VRA), Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) would like to erect new barriers by passing legislation that would specifically disenfranchise minorities and the poor, the very people the VRA was designed to protect.

Rep. Hyde’s so-called “Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006” (H.R. 4844) would require all voters to obtain and show government-issued photo ID that proves their citizenship before they could vote. Since most states do not issue such drivers' licenses or other official IDs, this means voters will have to pay for new types of ID – or get passports. For those who can barely make ends meet, this proposal is little more than a poll tax – especially considering that neither Rep. Hyde nor his allies can conclusively document the “voter fraud” this purports to prevent.

Please take action now and call your representative now. A floor vote on H.R. 4844 is expected tomorrow!

Use Project Vote Smart to find your rep.

imbillorightsmanandiapprovethismessage

[Kurovski]

1. K&R.

[In Truth We Trust]

2. kickin' it

[valerief]

3. Brad is so wonderful and diligent and informative on this issue! n/t

[eridani]

4. What about John Conyers?

Seems to me he would be perfect for the job.

[AtLiberty]

5. Henry Hyde's hopes to leave office in a blaze of glory...

How noble, Henry, to keep Americans from voting on election day.

What's the matter? Have you noticed that your district is polling higher for the fightin' Dem Duckworth than your Rick Santorum clone buddy? That your district has a very good chance of going blue for the first time in history? That is, if voters are allowed to vote and to have their votes counted... Big IF.

[jen4clark]

6. More from Brad today on LAVA!!

Thanks for posting this BillO!

Here's Brad's post for today.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3502

Please, everyone write your congresscritters and get them on board!

~~~

Here's the Bill Calling for Emergency Paper Ballots at Every Polling Place in America this November!

Yesterday I called on Congress to pass an emergency measure to require Emergency Paper Ballots be made available at the polls during this November's general election. I spelled out several reasons for this last-ditch, "Hail Mary" attempt to try and mitigate just some of the myriad problems and disenfranchisment that will occur at polling places this year thanks to new, poorly designed, malfunctioning, unsecure electronic voting machines now deployed across the nation.

Never mind the electronic voting machine fraud that is likely to occur. Never mind the proven inaccuracies of these god-awful machines. Never mind the ease at which they are now proven to be hackable. My concern right now — this late in the game — is simply to assure that voters who show up at the polls and are legally registered to vote, may actually be able to cast a vote at all!

~ snip ~

Common sense (one would think) would dictate that State and County Election Directors would mandate Emergency Paper Ballots for voters to use in the event of machine unavailability. Though the Secretaries of State in several states so far this year (Texas, Arkansas, etc.) have issued emergency orders for such Emergency Paper Ballots, remarkably, many states and counties didn't bother and thousands of legally registered voting citizens were sent home in the bargain.

The legislation required by Congress to mandate Emergency Paper Ballots (I call it the "LET AMERICA VOTE ACT") is incredibly simple. In yesterday's article, I included a three-sentence piece of legislation. Below, is a more fully-formed draft legislation based on those three sentences as sent to me orginally by Bob Wilson of the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project.

Along with additional tweaks by myself and a few others, my complete suggested legislation can be read — in it's entirety — in about 30 seconds. It's posted in full below. <----CLICK link above to BB to read.

If Congress cares (and if you help them to do so!), I'm quite certain that this measure can be passed by both houses of Congress and signed by George W. Bush with Terri Schiavo-like speed.

I'd think our democracy is worth at least as much. And I know it's certainly worth trying for!

Some have responded to my call for this LAVA legislation ("Let democracy flow!") by pointing out that the method of counting and/or auditing these Emergency Paper Ballots must be included in the legislation. My answer to them is that I agree with their point! However, at this late in the game (with only some 5 or 6 legislative days left before Congress recesses prior to the election) I don't want to give any Congress member any reason to oppose this act!

In other words, with the time we have left, if all we can do is assure that at least there will be a piece of paper on which a registered voter may cast a vote this November — if they bother to show up — then we will be doing a service to democracy. It's an incredible fact, but even something as simple has that has not been the case in many places this year. Last week's Maryland primary, were thousands were forced to go without voting at all when the machines failed to work, was a prime example!

Some have said there is no time to get this bill passed. I don't care. Let's get it passed anyway If it fails, at least we will have a "paper trail" to point back to on November 8th when everyone else is wondering what went wrong and if anybody had tried to do anything about it while there was still time. Those of us who give a damn will have done everything we could.

I continue to speak to folks in Congress about sponsorship of this bill, and I urge all American citizens to contact their Congress Members — as well as their state and local officials — to demand that non-provisional Emergency Paper Ballots be made available at the polls this year!

You can contact your Congress person here (and you can contact local media here.)

(The URL for this article is: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3502. Feel free to point them to it!)


Read in full at Brad Blog -- link at top of post!

[JimDandy]

7. K'ing and Rec'ing n/t

[Amaryllis]

8. kick

[BillORightsMan]

9. UPDATE on H.R.4844

National Poll Tax Passes the House - An October Surprise Coming?

HR 4844 would require government issued photo id for all voters by 2008, and proof of citizenship to vote in 2010.

The Voter ID Bill did pass in the house, mostly along party lines. The Senate would have to vote for it in order for it to become law. This is extremely serious.


HASTERT: "This bill builds on the REAL ID Act"

~snip~

The breakdown of the vote is here -
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll459.xml

DEMS VOTING FOR:
Bean
Marshall
Peterson (MN)
Taylor (MS)




WHAT DOES HR 4844 DO?

What HR 4844 does is require "government-issued, current and valid photo identification
for which the individual was required to provide proof of United States citizenship as a condition
for the issuance of the identification" -- this is quoting from the text of the bill.
Drivers licenses do not fit this definition because proof of citizenship is not required to obtain a driver's
license (there are three states that DO require proof of citizenship but the majority do not).
The only existing document that fits this definition is a passport. In order to get a passport
you need to obatin your state issued birth certification (not a hopsital version). There are
fees connected to getting your birth certificate. Married women might need to provide copies of their marriage
license to document their name change (another cost and more hassle).

All this just to be given a ballot in order to vote. Not to register to vote but to cast a ballot.
HR 4844 is an add-on to the "Real ID" bill that was tacked on to the Defense Appropriations bill last year.
It is part of a strategic plan to track U.S. citizens in all aspects of their lives.
The Hyde bill has been lurking since April, ready to be sprung in time for election year grandstanding.

THE ONLY WAY THIS BILL WILL BE STOPPED IS IF THE SENATE STOPS IT

Much more at link...

:patriot: