From Sean Flaherty, Co-Chair of Iowans for Voting Integrity www.IowansForVotingIntegrity.org
Please contact Governor Culver 515-281-5211 and urge him to provide full funding for optical scan equipment, with ballot-marking devices to serve voters with disabilities.
We were concerned a few weeks ago when the Governor called for discussion of adopting a statewide vote by mail system. To our relief, the Governor has indicated that he is not going to push for a statewide vote by mail in lieu of funding for new equipment. But he has also noted that the current budgetary environment is tight, and the Revenue Estimating Conference for next year's budget is December 11. So timing is important.
The new equipment we need for 2008 could cost the state $8 million more; $2 million has already been allocated. With a state budget that exceeds $6 billion a year, a one-time expense of $8 million is not a bad bargain for counting our votes accurately.
Important reasons why optical scan equipment and ballot-marking devices are the best voting system for Iowa:
* Voter-marked paper ballots counted by optical scanners at the precinct produced the lowest rate of residual votes of any voting system used in Iowa in 2006.
* The alternative to voter-marked paper ballots is to add "paper trail" printers to touch screen voting machines (DREs), which print votes on a continuous roll. These printers have proven unreliable: in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in November 2007, 20% of the paper trail printouts were unreadable. There is a history of problems with paper trail printers.
* Paper ballots are much easier for election officials to recount or audit by hand than the continuous paper roll than the direct-recording electronic machines offer for voter verification.
It is easier for the voter to verify that he or she has the correct ballot type.
Paper ballots are more intuitive to the voter.
* Voters may fail to check the voter-verified paper record. Paper ballots are inherently voter-verified.
* In case of a recount, ballots are better for public confidence than a printer roll. A ballot marked by the voter is stronger evidence of the voter's intent than a secondary printout.
* With optical scanners and ballot-marking devices, all voters use the same type of ballot, and all votes are counted using the same method. The state could not be accuses of treating voters unequally in the tabulation of votes.
* It is easier to protect voter privacy with paper ballot systems, because the DRE paper trail printers store the votes on a continuous roll.
* The current generation of DREs has proven vulnerable to calibration problems; e.g., “vote flipping.”
* The paper trail printers use low-quality thermal paper, which can degrade quickly.
Federal legislation could soon ban the use of thermal paper and reel-to-reel vote rolls for the paper trail printers. Optical scan with accessible ballot-marking devices would meet the requirements of proposed federal legislation.
Tell the Governor that it is time for the state to make a smart investment in democracy. Call him at 515-281-5211, or use the contact information below.
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