Bring Verified Voting to Iowa
By Sean Flaherty, IVI
It is
time for the Iowa General Assembly to return verified voting to our
state. We at Iowans for Voting Integrity urge you to sign our
petition calling for strong voting system reform in the next Assembly,
and to contact your legislators directly and tell them to act on this
vital issue.
Iowans for Voting Integrity's petition calls for the 82nd Iowa General Assembly to pass legislation mandating:
* The use of paper ballots in all elections covered by the Election Code.
* Routine hand audits of ballots in randomly selected precincts
* Public disclosure of voting system and vote tabulation software.
* The creation of a state panel of computer experts to conduct
meaningful testing and review of voting system and vote tabulation
software.
* Further measures to protect the integrity and transparency of elections in Iowa .
For our
recommended measures, we have drawn heavily on the Brennan Center for
Justice's 2006 report, "The Machinery of Democracy."
The
Brennan Center task force members included Professor Douglas Jones of
the University of Iowa, Professor Ronald Rivest of MIT, and Howard
Schmidt, former chief security officer of the Microsoft Corporation.
Click here to read and sign our petition for verified elections!
After
you sign the petition, e-mail your legislators to support strong voting
system reform. Click here to find contact information for your
state Representative and state Senator.
Our position paper on voting system reform can be viewed at our website, www.iowansforvotingintegrity.org, and a petition can be found at http://www.petitiononline.com/ivipetn/petition.html
There is
no reason Iowa should remain one of a minority of states that still
allows paperless voting, rather than one of the states embracing the
best practices to verify the vote. Let's work to change that in
the next year, and help Iowa adopt reforms that give us the highest
confidence in our elections.
Best regards,
Iowans for Voting Integrity
Working for Voting Systems Worthy of The Public Trust
www.iowansforvotingintegrity.org
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Tuesday, December 12
Bring Verified Voting to Iowa
by
Sam Garchik
on Tue 12 Dec 2006 08:11 AM CST
Tuesday, December 5
Paper Ballots: DFA and the Local Angle
by
Sam Garchik
on Tue 05 Dec 2006 08:07 AM CST
Paper Ballots: DFA and the Local Angle
By Jim Dean and Jerry Depew (Iowa Voters) First a Note from Jim Dean, posted last week. On Election Night, DFA-endorsed candidate Barbara McIlvaine Smith was down by 19 votes in her race for the Pennsylvania state house. She refused to concede, saying, "It is not about winning or losing... It's about making sure our democracy is intact." Earlier this week the count of absentee and military paper ballots concluded, and Barbara won by 23 votes -- switching the Pennsylvania House from Republican to Democratic for the first time in 12 years. This powerful victory happened because every paper ballot was counted. But across America votes are increasingly being cast electronically with no paper record. Had the election in Pennsylvania been conducted electronically there is no saying how the race might have been decided. You helped elect a new Democratic House and Senate in Washington, D.C. It's time to put our majority into action. Ask Speaker Nancy Pelosi to put paper ballots on the agenda in the new Congress's first 100 hours: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/paperballots The danger of paperless elections is clear. Look at Sarasota County, Florida. They use paperless touch screen voting machines. In the hotly contested Congressional race there, Election Night ended with Republican Vern Buchanan ahead of Democrat Christine Jennings by less than one-quarter of one percent. This triggered an automatic recount. On November 20, state election officials certified Buchanan as the winner by 369 votes, despite the fact that there were 18,000 "under-votes" in the county. An under-vote is when a machine reports a vote cast for another office, but not for the Congressional seat. The percentage of under-votes in Democratic leaning Sarasota County was far higher than in surrounding counties. And many voters reported that their votes were not recorded on their electronic ballot. Some said the machine skipped the race while others couldn't find the race listed at all. Currently this contest is being litigated in the courts. But the results of this election will be forever in doubt because there are no paper ballots to review. This is unacceptable. Congress has the power to mandate that all elections take place using paper ballots. Ask the new Democratic majority to make it a priority: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/paperballots The Democrats are committed to an impressive agenda in the first 100 hours of the Congress. They will raise the minimum wage, require Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, implement the 9/11 Commission security recommendations, cut the interests rates on student loans, and broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds. But Democrats can't stop there. Let's restore America's faith in Democracy too. Let's make sure that in the first 100 hours the Democratic majority makes paper ballots mandatory: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/paperballots Thank you for doing your part, Jim Dean Chair Now for some local context - Here's what Jerry Depew at Iowa Voters has to say about paper trails and Mauro's new hire in Iowa. Petulant Paper Trail Foe Promoted! An outspoken opponent of paper trails has been appointed to oversee Iowa elections by the newly elected Secretary of State Michael Mauro. Mauro promised to get paper trails during the campaign. It’s Linn county auditor Linda “You Terrorists!” Langenberg who has been promoted to the role of deputy secretary of state. In October Langenberg said voting machine critics were practicing a “form of terrorism” in their campaign against paperless voting. During the 2005 legislative session, Langenberg was accused by a knowledgeable source of being a principle obstacle preventing progress toward a paper trail. Her October remarks have just drawn this belated response from Green party’s candidate for Lt Gov, Richard Johnson: " Needless to say, I was rather surprised that you, a county auditor, were so poorly informed regarding the potential hazards of these paperless electronic voting machines you were defending. I responded, along with my running mate Wendy Barth, to your comments by mentioning how easily these small computers can be compromised, or “hacked” to use the vernacular. The article further states, Ms. Langenberg, that you believe that because these machines are never connected to the Internet they are safe from such problems. Having spent nearly a quarter century working with computers, with the last fourteen as a technology coordinator in a school with some 400 computers connected to our LAN/WAN, I can assure you that lack of Internet exposure is no guarantee against problems. . . . Ms. Langenberg, by comparing those of us who question the reliability of paperless electronic voting to terrorists, and by accusing us of undermining voter confidence in the system, you have done the citizens of your county, and even the state, a grave disservice. . . .[T]hose of us questioning this “advancement” in voting systems do not wish to undermine voter confidence. We want to build that confidence by insuring that elected officials, such as yourself, both understand the problem and take action to prevent a similar incident[a reference to the current missing votes in Sarasota–ed] from happening in our state or, more specifically, in your county." Looks like Johnson held his ire too long. This is no way to improve elections, Mr Mauro. Can you explain this appointment? |
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