http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090425/OPINION03/904250347/1054This op-ed piece appears this morning in the (Nashville) Tennessean, the largest circulation paper in Tennessee. Since we expect Rethugs will swamp the on-line comments with support for maintaining insecure elections in Tennessee (after all, that's likely how they took control of our legislature for the first time since Reconstruction), we need help from democracy-loving DUers in supporting our move to paper ballots and random manual audits. Thanks kindly, all y'all. Now here's the column:
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Tennessee Voices: Voters are more confident with paper ballots
By Bernie Ellis and Margie Parsley • April 25, 2009
With a stroke of Gov. Phil Bredesen's pen last year, Tennessee went from being one of the 12 worst states for election security to one of the 18 states with the most secure election systems in our country. We should all be proud of that accomplishment. It took us three years of study, hard work and perseverance to come to the conclusion that our elections are too important, too vital to the survival of our American way of life, to be left to unverifiable touch-screen voting machines (also called "direct record electronic" machines or DREs) that are easy to hack and impossible to audit.
The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations recommended the move to paper ballots, as did the legislature's Joint Committee on Voter Confidence. Many newspapers around the state editorialized for this legislation. This was truly a nonpartisan effort, and the success was cheered by all Tennesseans — regardless of political party — who want our votes to be counted as they were cast.
On June 5, 2008, more than a dozen Tennessee citizens joined Gov. Bredesen on the podium when he signed the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (TVCA) — regular people who had worked hard to help save our democracy. On that day, the governor said: "The right to vote is one of the cornerstones of our democracy, and every voter deserves the 100 percent assurance that his or her vote will be counted. I am proud that Tennessee is taking a big step forward in improving voter confidence." We were proud too, and shared the governor's belief that the TVCA had made our elections safer and more secure for all citizens. But that was then. This is now.
Over the past month, some counties have given our legislators extremely high cost estimates to accomplish the shift to paper ballots and routine audits as an excuse for delaying TVCA implementation until 2012. Some of these "extra cost" estimates would be laughable if they were not so misleading. One county estimated it would cost them $70,000 "extra" to store paper ballots that would not fill a single filing cabinet. Another county estimated it would cost almost $40,000 "extra" to conduct the routine two-hour training class for poll workers. Several counties estimated it would cost between $10,000-$20,000 "extra" to audit a few hundred votes in a single precinct, costs that would average out to more than $50 per ballot.
The truth is voting with paper ballots/optical scan machines is 30-40 percent less expensive than voting on the unverifiable DREs. That is because a single optical scan machine can do the work of more than 10 DREs, reducing both the time it takes citizens to vote and the unnecessary expense of storing, transporting, programming, testing and re-testing so many unneeded DREs. Multi-year studies in North Carolina, Maryland, Florida and other states have confirmed these cost savings.
How important is it that we implement the TVCA as intended before the 2010 elections? Well, a wise man once said: "The right to vote is one of the cornerstones of our democracy, and every voter deserves the 100 percent assurance that his or her vote will be counted." Tennessee took a big step forward last year in improving voter confidence with the TVCA. There are no good arguments for delaying this vital law. Democracy delayed is democracy denied. Please contact Gov. Bredesen and your legislators today and tell all of them to keep the TVCA intact and on track for 2010.
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