Emergency Measures to Protect the 2004 Vote Count
A Message from VotersUnite! in partnership with the National Ballot Integrity Project

Protect the 2004 Vote Count!

Transparency means that ALL election processes can be observed by ordinary people - that people can observe the process of counting votes, not just observe computers processing votes. Transparent procedures will:

- Increase the likelihood of an accurate vote count.
- Avert a questionable federal election and national crisis.
- Reduce the potential for legal challenges to the elections in November.

Meet with your county leaders and propose that votes for federal offices be manually counted as an emergency measure to protect the accuracy of the vote count and protect the county from legal challenges.


Emergency Measures To Protect The 2004 Vote Count
 
These measures will help assure voters that votes were counted correctly and will help protect counties from potential legal challenges to their elections.

Please work to implement them in your county.
 
a.  All votes for federal offices will be counted by hand, in public view, at the polling place before they are transmitted or transported to a central facility.
 
b.  Precinct totals will be prominently posted at the polling place before the ballots are transmitted or transported to a central facility.
 
c.  Ballots may be counted and aggregated electronically, in addition to the hand-count. However, in any case where a discrepancy exists, the hand-count will be considered the official result.
 

Talking Points
 
  *Both major parties are forming networks of lawyers ready to challenge questionable results. By conducting a manual count of votes for federal office, counties can protect themselves from potential legal action.
 
  *Voter-confidence is at an all-time low. By doing this manual count, they can assure their constituents that the votes have been counted correctly.
 
  *It would take less than an hour in each precinct and could potentially save the county hundreds of hours defending themselves in court or confirming results by doing full recounts.
 
  *In paperless precincts, it would require nothing more than the addition of simple, inexpensive ballots able to handle a maximum of four federal offices. The cost might be as low as 5 cents a ballot, if they were printed at a local printer on cheap paper.
 

For additional procedures for optical scan voting machines, click here.

Tomorrow, Blog for Iowa will go into detail about how you can contact your Senators and your Congressman about this issue.