Tennessee Voter Confidence Act soon to be law -- bans DREs and mandates audits of paper ballots

[Fly by night]

For those ER forum devotees who spend considerable time in the reality-based world, here is some good news from the Orange State. After three years of working HARD, our TN Voter Confidence Act is poised for the final vote in the state Senate this morning. So I will leave my Garden this rainy morning and drive an hour north to join with a handful of other election integrity activists in the Senate balcony to watch the final vote.

On Tuesday, our bill passed the full House with a razor-thin margin of 88 to 6. (All nay votes came from chimpish Rethugligans, though the bill obviously had strong bi-partisan support.) While our Secretary of State and State Election Coordinator fought us every step of the way, even they conceded in the end that change is inevitable.

The bill will require that all counties scrap their DREs completely and move to precinct-based optical scan and ballot-marking devices (ala Auto-Mark) by November of 2010. (The SoS and SEC did convince the legislature that there was not enough time to make the change this year.) The bill also contains a 3% mandatory random manual audit of paper ballots in all counties to verify the accuracy of the opscan ballot counters.

What helped the bill over the hump was the effort by our group (Gathering To Save Our Democracy) to convince the federal Election Assistance Commission to allow states with excess HAVA funds to use those funds to replace the DREs. Thus, we will be able to make the entire change in Tennessee with federal funds.

I applaud every DUer who has put her/his shoe-leather where his/her heart lies and who has actually worked to achieve state election reforms. We sometimes think that knowing what's right (and talking about it in this echo chamber) should be sufficient for change to occur. After three years in the Tennessee trenches, again, let me introduce you to the reality-based world.

We still have much work to do to protect our votes, this fall and forever. But we are more convinced than ever that whatever we can conceive, we CAN achieve.

If we never stop fighting, we cannot lose. We are the ones we've been waiting for.

[fasttense]

1. Wow, great news.

Good work. I never would have thought TN would take the corporation out of our voting booths, but they did. Amazing.

The Corporations and rethugs will only be able to steal one last Presidential race in TN.

[truckin]

2. Excellent work! Most people do not realize how hard it is to get

this type of legislation passed. I applaud for all you do for this cause and for the inspiration you give to others.

[Melissa G]

3. Great Job, Bernie!!!

:yourock:

[Wilms]

4. Seriously good stuff.

And a 3% audit will verify many (but not all) elections. So that's a great start.

[AtLiberty]

5. Well done, FBN!

!!!

[IndyOp]

6. !

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

As one who has fought this battle in Indiana - and we remain a long, long way away from our goal of having paper ballots statewide - I can say that I admire you sooo, soooooo much.

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[IndyOp]

7. Please provide a link to the legislation...

I'd like to download it and send it to my State Representative.

Thanks!

[Fly by night]

8. Just got homw -- our Senate approved the Voter Confidence Act by a 32 to 0 vote!!

As far as a link to the bill, go to this site:

http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/

Click on "Legislation" and then type in "HB1256" in the space provided. This will take you to the bill.

We are so pleased at this legislation. But for us, it is the end of the beginning. We are still dealing with a corrupt Secretary of State and State Election Coordinator, and we intend to watch their every move from now on. But the sentiment of the legislature is unmistakable. The only ones wearing tin-foil hats in Tennessee today are those who continue to put their faith and trust in vapor ballots.

[Wilms]

10. 32-0???!!!

OK. Now my hat is really off to y'all!

[Fly by night]

9. First media coverage (from our public radio affiliate). Hear me interviewed at link

http://wpln.org/newstranscripts/?p=2315

State Senate Approves Paper-Trail Voting Machines Requirement

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

The state Senate approved a requirement today that all Tennessee elections use paper-trail ballots. The Senate then sent the measure back to the House for agreement on a minor amendment.

Advocates for voting machines with a verifiable paper trail had hoped to get new machines in place by the November elections. But the bill sets 2010 as the deadline for counties to comply.

Bernie Ellis of the group “Gathering to Save our Democracy,” says they’re disappointed with the delay, but glad the legislature took action.

“Even though the bill allows counties until 2010 to implement it, our position is, the near-unanimity of support for this bill suggests that there’s no controversy, that paperless voting machines never had a place in our elections in this country.”

Ellis says there’s no reason counties can’t go ahead and upgrade to new machines right now.

The House is expected to agree to the newest amendment, which says the changeover must be financed by federal funds from the Help America Vote Act.

WEB EXTRA

The bill is SB13643 Haynes, Burchett/HB1256 Moore, Sontany.

The bill passed in the House on Monday 88-6 after being amended in the House Budget Subcommittee to put off compliance until November 2010.

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and its impact on Tennessee may be reviewed at this link on the Tennessee secretary of state’s page.

Ellis’ comment below about elections in 2009 refers to “off-year” city elections.
“We’ll have some challenges both in 2008 and 2009, continuing to use this unsafe equipment. But we do believe the legislature has now sent a strong signal to the counties and to the state Election Commission to let our votes count.”

[Bill Bored]

11. I WANT HAND COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS! AND I WANT THEM NOW!

TELL THE CROOKS WHO PASSED THIS LAW TO GO BACK AND LET ME COUNT THE PAPER BALLOTS BY HAND IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD!:nuke:

Oh, sorry. I was reading another DU ER post and got a little confused.... :dilemma:

This sounds like great news from TN! :toast:

And what has our useless United States Congress done for us on this issue lately? :puke:
(Ah, now I'm back to my old self.)

[Fly by night]

12. Lordy, BB. It sounds like you're channeling someone (out of your kee-ster).

You oughta have that thing checked -- it could be (intellectually) fatal.

Thanks for the good words, all.

But today is another day and we've all got to keep on keeping on.

We all still have much to do to win in November -- and counting the votes as they were cast remains one of our biggest challenges (in too many places that call themselves America).

Now back to the Garden. I wish there was some way I could send all y'all a weekend's supply of salad greens and broccoli. My Garden runneth over!!!

[demodonkey]

13. YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!! Go Tennessee and GO GATHERING TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY ET AL!!

You Orange State guys are the greatest! You are the ones we all have been waiting for.

:yourock:

Now if we could just get Pennsylvania on board...... sigh. :eyes:

[Fly by night]

14. Thanks, DemoD. You might try sarcasm with your legislature -- it worked with ours.

We kept telling our legislature that Tennessee was one of the seven most insecure states for voting integrity in the country, and that we should not be the last state to admit (and correct) our DRE disaster. That argument was successful with a number of legislators.

You can tell your legislature that even Tennessee hill-billys understand the risks of paperless voting and have moved to correct this disaster. If even Orange State country boys (and girls) "get it", why can't PA leaders? After all, both our states have a proud history of doing what's right.

Why stop now?

[demodonkey]

15. Heh heh heh, all those arguments have been tried in PA, on many bills (not just election reform)...

... we have the most recalcitrant legislature in the USA (and the highest paid, and 2nd largest.)

PA was THE LAST state to put its laws online -- and still there is a bunch of Unconsolidated Code that is not online yet. You want to see the all the laws? You have to buy a $130 law book (per subject, i.e. just the PA Election Code is ONE book) from a private corporation.

PA was one of the last 5 states to get an Equine Liability Law, limiting legal liability of a horse owner who is not negligent but is sued for some reason regarding their animals. Passage only happened when the horse industry in the state (and agriculture is our largest industry) started to have a very hard time buying insurance and the industry was threatened. Even so, the law was gutted before passage (yea, trial lawyers -- you have good lobbyists.)

And those are just two laws I am familiar with....

In PA we have a history of lots of corruption (both sides of the aisle), arrogant lawmakers (although their 2 AM pay raise passed in 2005 took them down a few pegs; Google that story, it is a good one), and a total culture of denial that anything is wrong here.

Still we do not intend to give up on getting a voter-verified paper ballot and meaningful audits, but for sure we need all the help and support we can get.

[Fly by night]

16. I just heard from an old friend, who chairs the Sociology dept at Penn State, ...

... and he says there is activity and interest in paper ballots there in State College. Are you hooked up with those folks -- they might be helpful. (If you want it, I will PM you my friend's contact info).

Just had an inspiring seminar at the TN Alliance for Progress annual meeting. Even had a famous author (John Edgerton) come because he wanted to meet some of "these new citizen patriots".

Boy howdy, that felt good.

[demodonkey]

17. The Concerned Voters of Centre County works hand in hand with VotePA -- they are great!

http://www.ConcernedVoters.org

And here is some of the story:
http://votepa.us/newsarchive/2006/6-26-06CentreiVotronic.html

And they fight ON in Centre County; one of our most valiant counties. (Google News for more!)
http://wearecentralpa.com/content/fulltext/?cid=6769

Please do PM me or e-mail -- is your friend working with Concerned Voters?

[Fly by night]

18. I'll PM you his info -- not sure who he's working with.

[Melissa G]

19. Hi Fly by night...

Please check your in box.

[kster]

20. I applaud you, every Duer who put shoe to leather and every DUer who talks

about election manipulation in this echo chamber.

A combined effort.

Go DUERS!! Go Fly by night!!

K&R (provided its not to late to recommend)