Holla' at Hoyer

The last thing we need in 2008 is for the election to come down to a state that has no verifiable way to recount votes.

HR 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, has strong support in Congress, but is held up while House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer negotiates more compromises - after months of negotiation and compromise.

Call 202-225-3130 and urge House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to bring HR 811 to a vote!

Background

Unless federal or state legislation changes things, 13 states are likely to use paperless electronic voting, either exclusively or extensively, in the 2008 election. Among those states are Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina.

A drumbeat of security reports, including California's landmark voting system review published in August, as well as a comprehensive analysis by a task force of top computer scientists and vote-altering glitches in recent elections have proven this to be a risky and foolish gamble.

Many election officials are balking at the 2008 deadline, because they don't want to go through a change of equipment in a year's time. That is an understandable motive, but states have proven that it can be done in less than a year! Florida is going to prove it by November 2008. New Mexico, North Carolina, and other states have implemented major overhauls in voting equipment in a matter or months. Most importantly, the only equipment changes that would be required for 2008 would be the addition of cash-register style printers to electronic voting machines. These printers are not the solution, but they can help protect the 2008 election.

HR 811 is not perfect, and more will need to be done to protect the vote if it becomes law - much more. See an excellent piece by Matt Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

But without the bill, we could forced to spend November 4, 2008 watching the election returns and just hoping that electronic voting machines across the country work correctly.

**Get it to the floor --Call Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at 202-225-3130 and urge him to bring HR 811 to a vote!**