Great letter to Send to Ney, from the folks at
http://www.caseohio.orgDear Congressman Ney:
For over 200 years America's men and women have sacrificed their lives to
protect an idea and an ideal that is unparalleled in human history; a
country in which citizens control their own destiny by means of free,
honest, reliable, and voter-verifiable elections. That ideal of a truly
democratic society in now under threat by the implementation of electronic
voting machines that have a documented track record of being unreliable,
insecure, and totally unverifiable.
Our government was wisely set up by our founding fathers with a system of
checks and balances. Yet the vast majority of the electronic voting machines
that are being implemented today have no means whatsoever to "check" that
the results they are reporting are indeed accurate. The documented problems
experienced in states such as California, Indiana, Maryland, Georgia and
others serve as a warning that the voting systems we are about to implement
are seriously flawed.
As the leading nation in the world we are about to send exactly the wrong
message to other fledgling democratic societies, that democracy does not
deserve the very best and most reliable technology to record the votes of
its citizens, but rather inferior and unverifiable technology will suffice.
We all know that the upcoming elections will be close, and that calls for
recounts are likely. Yet, without a paper trail, electronic voting machines
can only regurgitate the very same numbers they gave in the first place --
i.e. a true recount is impossible. This enormous flaw by itself is enough
to call for banning such machines in the November elections.
Honest, fair and voter verifiable elections are the bedrock of our
democracy. Each year the United States spends hundreds of billion of dollars
buying the very best equipment to defend our country from outside threats.
Why is it then that some are asking us to use inferior technology to defend
against those threats that are just as serious but coming from within; i.e.
questionable voting results and a voting population that is becoming more
and more disillusioned and apathetic to the voting process. This is a
dangerous trend that will only become worse if people feel that their vote
cannot be truly verified and independently recounted, something that can
only be achieved via a voter-verified paper audit trail.
House Bill 2239, introduced by Representative Rush Holt, addresses these
major concerns. We, the people of the United States, are calling upon you,
as the Chairman of the Committee on House Administration to release HR-2239
from committee and actively support its passage before the scheduled July 26
Congressional adjournment. As an elected official of the United States
Congress you have a sworn duty to protect our democracy from all threats,
not only foreign but domestic, as well. Machines that do not offer a
voter-verified paper audit trail represent a serious threat to our democracy
and we demand that you take action to defend it. America IS watching!
As the recent National Day of Action, July 13, 2004, there were 26 "The
Computer Ate My Vote" rallies held in over 19 cities in the United States,
all protesting electronic voting. Almost 400,000 signatures were collected
nationwide calling on elections officials to abstain from using electronic
voting in the November 2004 elections. You have an obligation to the
American people to hold hearings on HR 2239 before the scheduled July 26
Congressional adjournment.
Sincerely,
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
