Progressive Democrat Issue 48: NATIONAL ACTION: Verified Voting

This is from Verified Voting.org:

Tell Congress: Pass H.R. 550 for Voter Verified Paper Records

The "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" (H.R. 550) may be the most important bill your Representative could co-sponsor this year.

H.R. 550 is the "gold standard" of voter verifiability legislation, incorporating not only a requirement for voter-verified paper records but also mandatory manual audits to confirm that voting machines are working properly.

A voter-verified paper record (VVPR) is the "bottom line" without which we cannot have reliable elections. But the voter-verified paper record must be audited too. Although more than half the states have now made VVPR an official requirement, many states still do not have adequate audit requirements. H.R.550 provides that minimum standard.

The bill also has increased security requirements, prohibits undisclosed software, and more. It continues to gain momentum, with 156 Republican and Democrat co-sponsors to date, but more co-sponsors are needed. VerifiedVoting.org supports H.R. 550 in the strongest possible terms, and we urge its immediate passage.

Voter-verified paper records make it possible to recover from e-voting machine malfunctions, such as those experienced last year and this year in California, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, without having to re-run a costly election from scratch.

Passage of H.R. 550 will mean that any states and counties still seeking to purchase new voting equipment can only buy systems which can provide a VVPR. It is far easier and more cost-effective to start out with a verifiable system than to retrofit!

To pass quickly, the bill needs more bi-partisan co-sponsorship. You can make the difference: contact your Representative today and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 550 without delay.

Please go to their website to FAX your Rep. Also, please write a letter to the editor explaining why you support H.R. 550.