PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Emergency Paper Ballot Campaign Moves to PA
by george washington Friday, Oct. 20, 2006 at 4:56 PM

VR’s Campaign Joined by Dozens of Organizations, Plus Members of Congress and National Election Integrity Leaders!

"The Confidence in Voting Act of 2006" was first proposed by Brad Friedman of VelvetRevolution and BradBlog. We have created a buzz in the country for the need for emergency ballots.

Although the federal legislation did not pass, we have now taken this fight directly to the states and this week we sent certified letters to all 50 Governors, Secretaries of State and Directors of Elections calling for emergency paper ballots in all elections. This letter, in full below, was signed by signed by 30 organizations, including TrueMajority, VoterAction, VoteTrustUSA and Election Defense Alliance and 15 individuals, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Senators Boxer and Kerry, Rep. Rush Holt, Ion Sancho, Freddie Oakley and Mark Crispin Miller.

State officials are strongly urged in the letter “to make contingency plans and procedures to ensure that every legally registered American voter can vote in the upcoming general election. All voters must have the option to vote on an Emergency Paper Ballot if necessary, and all such ballots must be counted as regular -- not provisional -- ballots.”

Now Progressive Democrats of America has set up an email petition to support the push for emergency paper ballots. Please sign it and circulate the link to your email lists!

For text email users, copy and paste this into your web browser to sign the petition:
http://pdamerica.org/petition/paper-ballot-emails.php

After you sign the petition, please take a moment to think about how you can further the effort to give every voter the opportunity to vote on paper this November. If you have a website, Blog, newsletter, or other way of reaching lots of people, please link to the petition and to Velvet Revolution, where updates about the campaign will be posted. Insist that election officials in your state make emergency paper ballots a reality.

Without emergency paper ballots, we anticipate that thousands upon thousands of voters will be turned away at the polls on November 7 as electronic election equipment continues malfunction, offering more proof than anyone should need that these riggable, hackable, privately owned machines have no place in a democracy.

The emergency paper ballot campaign is just one aspect of the Velvet Revolution Election Protection Strike Force, an effort we’re coordinating with groups from coast to coast that includes a $250,000 reward for information about election fraud leading to the overturn of an election and the incarceration of those responsible; the Days of Democracy campaign publicizing some of the most egregious acts against fair elections in the U.S.; an election day vigilance campaign in association with VideoTheVote; ongoing legal efforts; and online election night coverage of election train wrecks and election protection work around the country. Keep an eye on the VR Election Protection Strike Force webpage for developments and opportunities to participate!

For text email users, copy and paste this into your web browser to visit the VR Strike Force Website: http://www.velvetrevolution.us/electionstrikeforce

Velvet Revolution is bringing together a broad-based coalition of organizations working to achieve election results this November that actually reflect the will of the people. We need your help to support these efforts and to enable us to respond to developments as they occur. Donations are also needed to continue with the appeal in our Busby/Bilbray election contest in San Diego. If you want to see us spend our time doing this crucial work rather than raising funds, please donate generously today.

For text email, copy and paste this into your browser to donate:
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/donate.php

Thank you for your enthusiastic support and your commitment to democracy!


With liberty and justice for all,
Emily Levy
for Velvet Revolution


Text of Emergency Paper Ballot Letter:

October 11, 2006

Honorable Governor, Secretary of State & State Election Director:

As you likely know, many legally registered American voters across the country were turned away from polling places without being able to cast a ballot this year. In state after state, voters were unable to exercise their franchise simply because electronic voting systems malfunctioned, suffered programming problems, or were otherwise unavailable for use.

We are sure you’ll agree that should never happen in this country. No legally registered voter should ever be turned away from the polls without being allowed to vote on Election Day in America. No legally registered voter should ever be told to “come back later,” or be forced to use a provisional ballot simply because a voting system is unavailable to them at the time they are able to vote. It is imperative that an ample supply of Emergency Paper Ballots be made available to account for any unforeseen circumstance.

Common-sense legislation for Emergency Paper Ballots at the polling place this November was recently filed in both the U.S. House and Senate. The proposed legislation would have:

• Mandated that voters be given a paper ballot upon request
• Required election officials to post information announcing and confirming that right at each polling place, and
• Mandated that all such paper ballots be counted as regular, not provisional, ballots.

Unfortunately, legislators were unable to pass this important measure before adjourning for the Election Recess. Now the responsibility for this vital democratic process must rest on the States and Counties to ensure that millions of Americans will be able to cast their ballots in the general election on November 7th.

Many of your state's citizens and polling places will be using new electronic voting systems for the first time. Such systems have already caused unforeseen problems this year, resulting in disenfranchised voters from Maryland to California, from Texas to Indiana to many other states and counties around the union.

In Maryland, the Governor recently called for Emergency Paper Ballots statewide after catastrophic problems in their recent primary. In Texas and Arkansas, election officials wisely instructed their counties to have Emergency Paper Ballots on hand during runoff elections after thousands were unable to vote during primaries, or when voting machine companies failed to program balloting systems properly.

In America, in 2006, such occurrences should never have happened, and we write to you hoping that you will take every measure to ensure they do not happen anywhere in your state this November.

Therefore, we, the undersigned groups and individuals, strongly urge you to make contingency plans and procedures to ensure that every legally registered American voter can vote in the upcoming general election. All voters must have the option to vote on an Emergency Paper Ballot if necessary, and all such ballots must be counted as regular -- not provisional -- ballots.
We hope that your state and every county therein will take careful, yet aggressive measures to institute plans for ample Emergency Paper Ballots, to be made available in every voting jurisdiction.

Several states have laws in place requiring the use of emergency paper ballots for voters if voting equipment is unavailable or has malfunctioned. Many more states and counties, however, do not have such provisions. In addition, many poll workers are unaware of such state laws and elections code.

So many Americans have fought and died in this country and around the world -- and indeed, are fighting today – in the defense of our most basic freedoms, to ensure the right to freely cast a vote and thus determine the consent of the governed in this great democracy. Our vote is our precious franchise. We believe it is worth defending, and worth the effort to guarantee that that right remains assured and inviolate.

We urge you to please take this opportunity to draft, establish and publicize your own state’s common-sense plans for Emergency Paper Ballots at every polling place this Nov. 7th, so that every election official, poll worker, and voter may be crystal clear on the procedures for utilizing such measures.

With Great Respect,

The Undersigned


ORGANIZATIONS
51CapitalMarch.com
AUDIT-AZ
BlackBoxVoting.org
Broward Election Reform Coalition
Citizens for Legitimate Government
Common Cause
Democrats.com
Election Defense Alliance (EDA)
Election Reform Network
Las Vegas, NM Peace and Justice Center
MoveOn.org Political Action
National Election Data Archive
NetworkOfCitizens.org
New Yorkers for Verified Voting
Ohio Honest Elections Campaign
Palm Beach Coalition for Election Reform
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
SAVE Our Votes: Secure, Accessible, Verifiable Elections for Maryland
Florida Fair Elections Coalition
Georgians for Verified Voting
TrueVoteMD
Coalition for Peace Action, Princeton NJ
Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota
Iowans for Voting Integrity
Voting Matters [New Mexico]
Solarbus.org
TrueMajorityAction.org
United Voters of New Mexico
Valley Grassroots for Democracy
VelvetRevolution.us
VerifiedVoting.org
VotePA
VoterAction.org
VotersUnite.org
VoteTrustUSA
Coloradoans for Voting Integrity
The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
The National Committee for Voting Integrity
Wake Up and Save Your Country
We Do Not Concede


INDIVIDUALS
Clifford O. Arnebeck, Jr, election attorney, OH
John C. Bonifaz, voting rights attorney, Boston
Sen. Barbara Boxer
Bob Fitrakis, Ph.D., J.D.
Brad Friedman, investigative journalist
Bruce Funk, County Clerk, Emery County, UT
Sarah Granger, computer security consultant
Rush Holt, Member of Congress
Douglas W. Jones, computer scientist, U. of Iowa
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Sen. John Kerry
Prof. Mark Crispin Miller, NYU
Freddie Oakley, Yolo County, CA, Clerk/Recorder
Ion Sancho, Supvsr. of Elections, Leon County, FL
Barbara Simons, retired, IBM Research


Please spread the word. It's your democracy. Use it or lose it!