Progressive Democrat Issue 56: NEW JERSEY FOCUS

Election reform is reaching a critical point, so I want to continue this from last week. Please keep up the pressure because otherwise we will find out vote lost for good.

From New Jersey for Democracy:

Support Verified Voting!

Blogs across the nation are massing in support of Rush Holt’s H.R. 550, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act - the “gold standard” for voting machine accountability according to www.verifiedvoting.com. You can help advance the cause in just a few minutes!

Yet another election has passed without any action from Congress to give us more accountable elections. A solution exists, proposed by NJ’s own Rush Holt; H.R. 550 has 156 co-sponsors (9 of them Republicans!) and is endorsed by the bi-partisan Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Refom, but the bill’s stalled in the House Administration Committee, chaired by Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH).

You can sign Rush Holt’s petition here to try and dislodge the bill. And please ask your friends to do the same!

Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550) would:

· Mandate a voter verified paper ballot for every vote cast in every federal election, nationwide; because the voter verified paper record is the only one verified by the voters themselves, rather than by the machines, it will serve as the vote of record in any case of inconsistency with electronic records;

· Protect the accessibility requirements of the Help America Vote Act for voters with disabilities;

· Require random, unannounced, hand-count audits of actual election results in every state, and in each county, for every Federal election;

· Prohibit the use of undisclosed software and wireless and concealed communications devices and internet connections in voting machines;

· Provide Federal funding to pay for implementation of voter verified paper balloting; and

· Require full implementation by 2006

If your congressman isn’t on the list of co-sponsors listed on Rush Holt’s website, please urge them to sign on. You can also contact members of the House Administration Committee to tell them how important this bill is to you. CapWiz has easy tools to contact Members of Congress. Or you can phone or Fax the Committee:
Phone: 202-225-8281
Fax: 202-225-9957