HR811 
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Wed Jul 18, 2007 at 09:45:23 PM EDT
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( - promoted by Rosi Efthim)
Slam-dunk. Promoted from diaries. - Rosi Efthim
I'm taking a bit of liberty (and hat-tipping Juan Melli) to shed some light on an issue that has NJ as its focal point, but is really a national issue. It's one that sure generates lots of heat. (Just check out the comments below! '-)
The vocal opponents of HR-811 rail against various shortcomings related to preventing electronic voting equipment from producing flawed or perhaps even fraudulent results. Stop and take that in for a sec...
Many would be surprised to learn that Holt's three voter-verified paper trail bills (2239, 550 and now 811) have never sought to prevent inaccurate electronic voting tallies. All of them first and foremost seek to expose the accuracy or inaccuracy of electronic voting machine (often referred to as "DRE") tallies, and where audits flag bad tallies, or elections are close, have a paper record that could be used to recover an accurate tally based on voter-verifed, un-changable paper.
If HR-811's audits show (with their irrefutable, hard evidence) that particular vendors, models jurisdictions or software releases have a high incidence of incorrect tallies, the public outcry will support actions we'd all like to see. Errant vendors and models will be ousted from jurisdictions, and some of the very provisions that HR-811 opponents cry for -- e.g. Dennis Kucinich's laudible if not viable Paper Ballot bill -- will have a chance in Congress for the first time.
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There's More...
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Comments, 545 words in story)
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Sun Jul 01, 2007 at 11:22:29 AM EDT
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An article on OpEdNews.com claims that HR811 (aka "The Holt Bill) "will enshrine secret computerized vote counting, controlled by the White House." This is more or less the opposite of what I thought the bill was about, at least as Rush has explained it.
I went to THOMAS and searched for HR811 and got two versions -- "Introduced" and "Reported" (amended). I do not have the mad legislative skillz to figure out what effect the amendments have and whether the OpEdNews person has mis-read the whole thing. Can someone here explain?
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Discuss
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Wed May 23, 2007 at 10:23:58 AM EDT
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Congressman Rush Holt, who introduced a bill (H.R. 811) requiring that electronic voting machines have voter-verifiable paper ballots, now says that a majority of the House of Representative supports his legislation."Voting is the very foundation of our democracy. I am pleased that a majority of the House of Representatives recognizes that without a voter-verified paper ballot, the results of our elections will always be uncertain." The bill currently has 216 co-sponsors, plus two other members have also verbally expressed support. This brings the total number of votes to at least 218, just over half of the 435 members. Two weeks ago the legislation cleared a House panel which sent the bill to the full House. Holt added: "I hope and expect that Congress will move quickly to pass this legislation so that all voters can be confident that their votes are counted as cast."
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Tue May 08, 2007 at 06:28:12 PM EDT
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Earlier this afternoon the Committee on House Administration considered and passed Congressman Rush Holt's verified voting legislation (press release):The House of Representatives Committee on House Administration today approved the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 811), landmark legislation introduced by Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) requiring voting systems to produce a voter-verified paper ballot and mandating routine random audits.
"We can't afford to wait any longer to give people confidence that elections are accurate and verifiable," said Holt. "Without a voter-verified paper ballot and mandatory audits, there is no way to know whether a vote has been counted as cast, or whether it just disappears." [...]
Rep. Holt urged the House to move quickly to pass the legislation. "Voting is the very foundation of our democracy, and I am pleased that the Committee has acted to ensure that we are protecting the franchise," said Holt. "I urge the House to pass my legislation so that we can protect voters' rights, ensure the accuracy of elections, and increase the confidence of Americans in our electoral system."
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