Nat Conf State Legislatures and Nat Assoc Counties URGE OPPOSE HR 811 (Holt II abomination)

[Land Shark]

Nat Conf State Legislatures and Nat Assoc Counties URGE OPPOSE HR 811 (Holt II abomination)

SOURCE: http://www.democracyfornewhampshire.com/node/view/3687

March 19, 2007

Dear Member of Congress:

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) urge you to oppose H.R. 811, S. 559 or other legislation that would require dramatic changes in state and local election laws, technology and procedures.

State law controls the processes and administration of elections for federal, state and local office and the procedures and technology vary greatly across the nation. States have been extremely aggressive in addressing concerns about the security of our voting systems that arose as a result of the mandates that Congress imposed as part of the Help America Vote Act.

{...}

This legislation would exacerbate, rather than assist states and counties in addressing, these challenges which could lead to disastrous unintended consequences in the 2008 presidential election. H.R. 811 and S. 559 are a one-size-fits all approach which would rush new voting technology to market that has not even been developed without testing or certification and without adequate time for pollworker training and voter education. {...}The pending federal legislation seeks to undermine the hard work of our nation’s state legislatures and is deeply flawed.

Even if the requirements of this legislation were realistic within the specified deadline, state and local governments are understandably skeptical of promises of federal funding for a new, multi-billion-dollar federal mandate for additional election technology and practices. Congress has repeatedly failed to live up to its fiscal commitments under the Help America Vote Act. {...}

Sincerely,

William T. Pound,
Executive Director National Conference of State Legislatures

Larry Naake,
Executive Director National Association of Counties

[Wilms]

1. Bound to have happened.

Thing is, Holt II ain't the only thing not well planned.

[Land Shark]

2. well these guys don't like oversight, to the extent Holt II provides ANY

so I should say I don't endorse the organization, Doug Lewis of the election center testified on behalf of a lot of officials and every word of it forgot who they work for, (the public) except for the parts that said "trust us" (in effect)

[kster]

3. K N R nt