|
Very crucial info
Timeline: Help America Vote Act Federal election commission
National Governors' Association:
States are subject to civil action, for injunctive or declaratory relief, by the
U.S. Department of Justice for failing to meet federal requirements.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the cost to state and local
governments of complying with the major requirements of the act will range from $1.7 billion to $3.5 billion over the next
several years. States and local governments are required to comply with the act whether or not federal funds are appropriated....
More, including a listing of available grants to the states...
Some of the objections raised are not conducive to fraud-proof elections:
Kathy Bushouse
Many websites have warned that federal legislation pertaining to voting machines contain provisions which are "voluntary."
Beware.
According to the new election reform law, all new federal standards that will be developed and implemented for voting
machines will be voluntary. Voting machines can and do malfunction. Voting machine experts say that machines can be easily
rigged and impossible to audit. Voting machine companies require buyers to sign contracts granting "proprietary rights" making
independent inspection of the machines a violation of the contract. Voting machines that use modems can manipulate voting
results during an election from remote locations. Other mechanisms exist to electronically manipulate voting machines before
or after an election. Private companies and their technicians appear to control every critical aspect of vote tabulation.
There have been reports of voting machine malfunction and concerns about vote rigging by machines since the 1960's. In the
midterm election of 2002, pre-election polling data was far off of election results in several states, which has heightened
suspicions of election fraud.
More...
Fatally flawed - new election reform law on federal "Voting Systems Standard" HR 3295 - 6th version http://thomas.loc.gov/ Comment: The new law as it pertains to voting machine standards
is VOLUNTARY. And, it contradicts itself. It suggests that the voters be able to verify their candidate selection (which
is good), but allows voting machines to produce an electronic ballot for voters to "verify" without providing a paper
ballot. However, the new law does allow a paper tape produced by the voting machine (but not verified by the voter) to act
as the audit trail. Meanwhile, the issue of voting machine company's proprietary rights or trade secrets (which makes any
real audit or inspection impossible) was not addressed by the new law.
More...
So, while new federal legislation may be implemented by U.S. Congress, the states will have the flexibility to accept for
certification those touch-screen machines which may not have the proper voter-verified paper trail.
Citizens must be aware of what their particular state will certify as of this time, before we allow our local boards of
commissioners to approve any new voting machines.
Even more important, what exactly is state certified in your state and in our state NOW?
For your information Check out researcher: Rebecca Mercuri
http://www.notablesoftware.com
Google search
March 17, 2003
Ralph F. Boyd, Jr.
Assistant Attorney General
Read this in its entirety - section by section summary of the HAVA.
Be aware of the provisions of Help America Vote Act of 2002
Ask your federal legislators which touch-screen machines are certified by the FEC? Now, currently. Are the
federal certified machines the kind which have the voter-verified paper trail feature?
Demand your state representatives demand only this type of machine for state certification.
Recent key votes link
Actually, people, it was the "newer" machines in Florida precinct that had the problems, but hey, that's no fun -
plus many are just so giggly at the opportunity to squire in an entire new voting system nation-wide that they suppress the
reality that it was newer, not older machines. In fact, in the one Florida county which used the lever style machines,
reportedly, there were NO zero 0 problems/errors. (See Trail of Treachery)
(Voting-machine errors discovered 4 years ago By George Bennett and Marc Caputo, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers Friday,
December 8, 2000)
But onward to the Act that imposes what... on the states???
No More Hanging with Chad
Last presidential election
we saw first hand the effects of an out-of-date election system. In an effort to prevent similar problems in the future,
the House passed the Help America Vote Act of 2001, H.R. 3295.
The legislation authorizes more than $3.7 billion in
federal election reforms to replace the punch-card voting systems still used in many voting precincts. The funding will
be used to update equipment, organize and instruct poll workers, provide better access for disabled voters and educate the
public about voters rights.
When voters cannot trust our voting techniques, democracy suffers. It is the
civic duty and privilege of all Americans to vote in elections, and it is our job to ensure that their vote counts.
from Texas site:
Under Title I of the law, each state can receive a minimum of $5 million in federal
funding. The first round of Title I funds, $325 million, will pay for replacing punch-card and lever voting machines with
modern voting systems. For each precinct that uses punch-card or lever systems, states can receive a maximum of $4,000 to
upgrade.
National Conference of State Legislatures
2003 State Election Reform Legislation
More...
February 26, 2003
More...
National Association of State Election Directors
More...
ACLU - PA
|
