[Voterescue] Urgent action 2008 Crisis:"Microsoft 811" Rep. Rush Holt in his own words

[Vickie Karp]

VoteRescuers:  H.R. 811 is still likely to come up for a vote this week! 
Please take a moment and read more about the bill in its current state ~
worse than it ever was! ~ and call your Representatives (again if you
already have) and request they vote NO on H.R. 811.  You will be doing
your country a big favor!

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: gouldco at attg.net
  To: ""Voice of the Voters""
  Subject: [ei] Urgent action 2008 Crisis:"Microsoft 811" Rep. Rush
  Holt in his own words
  Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:42:40 -0400

Please circulate widely ... vote could be Wed and committee meets Tuesday
...call committee members and Congress .... please read Rep. Holt's own
words ... and ask yourself how we can allow "Microsoft 811" to become
law?  It is time to ban DREs (Direct Recording Electronic voting
machines, aka touchscreens or rotary wheel selection machines) for 2008
then work on other improvements, step by step

            H.R.' Microsoft 811' Challenges

              Our Voting Rights and Democracy Itself!

"So what I agreed to... I didn't do the negotiations but I understand
what they were doing, so I shouldn't say I agreed to them... but I accept
the outcome." Rep Rush Holt

"Unfortunately, the committee that made this change heard from
Microsoft...


They heard that voice" Rep Rush Holt
------------------------------------

We present a "debate" with Rep. Rush Holt on "Microsoft 811" using the
words of Congressman Rush Holt (NJ) captured on video at a Town Meeting
in his district in July 2007.

Holt: "The confidence in the working of our elections has been shaken
badly. There are literally millions of Americans who don't believe the
results of recent elections...in certain elections."

Us: On this, we are in complete agreement. It is urgent to restore the
integrity of our voting system, to restore the ability to prove the
outcomes from the source ballots.

Holt: "They're saying at the end of the day, an electronic machine can
print out the totals, and that's the verification. Well, no... If it's
stored incorrectly in the electronic memory, I don't care how many times
you print it out for recounts, it's still incorrect, and there's no way
you can recover"

Us. Quite correct. There is nothing there to count, nothing to show the
original intent of voter. So we expect any legislation to ensure that the
ballot of record be the original source ballot...the voter-marked paper
ballot completed by each voter.

Holt: "My legislation since I've introduced it would require that every
voter would have a paper ballot to verify in the privacy of the voting
booth".

Us: On the contrary, "paper ballot" -- as the term is used in your bill
-- is a misnomer. H.R. 811 requires a paper print-out of the votes, and
while it requires that the voter be allowed to verify it, the bill would
NOT require all those "paper ballots" to be counted. 90% to 97% of the
printouts won't ever be counted and cannot be considered ballots at all.

What your bill requires is a paper printout from the electronic memory --
the same electronic memory which you yourself said could be incorrect
"and there's no way you can recover."

Mr. Holt, in a meeting in July, you said to us that you believed that our
voting system should meet the same standards as our government....a
system of separate and independent checks and balances. A DRE with a
printer does NOT and can NEVER meet that vital requirement. Why are we
allowing DREs to be used in our elections?

Holt: "You would be able to see that it's recorded the way you intended.
That would be the vote of record; that would be your ballot."

Us: You will not see what is recorded inside the machine, and it is the
machine count that will be announced as results on election night. It is
the machine record, which voters can't see, that will determine our next
President and Congress!

Holt: "The legislation says any software that is used to count the votes
must be available for inspection. Now that probably would not include the
operating system, but that's okay. What counts the votes would be open
for inspection."

Us: Mr. Holt perhaps you are confusing your current bill with your
original bill, which DID open software to inspection. Your current bill
has closed it to all but a chosen few, only if they promise to keep it
secret. Your bill makes the corporations' right to vote-counting secrecy
the LAW.

Holt: "Furthermore, the real protection for any of us against -- you say
it's being managed by a corporation, Microsoft or something -- the real
protection against that is the audit. Every election will be audited. If
the electronic count is different from the hand count on the paper
ballots, the electronic count is finished, it doesn't mean anything, you
don't use it, it's irrelevant. It is the voter-verified paper ballot that
counts."

Us: The tiny 3% spot check required by your bill is NOT an audit. It is
NOT real protection. Evidence shows that most voters don't verify the
screen view of their electronic ballot, even fewer verify the
hard-to-read paper printout. It will be a coincidence indeed if the 3%
(or at most 10%) of the spot-checked printouts were some of the few that
the voters actually did verify. The ability to perform good audits is
dependent on having a reliable system....and that we do not have with
electronic voting!. When a system is "out of
control"...unpredictable...as are the present electronic machines given
the extensive series of problems and inability to know when some viruses
activate or changes made, an audit of 1-3 percent is more a "feel good"
than a system that is trustworthy. We deserve real proof our elections
equal voters intent!

Holt: "And I don't care what Microsoft does with their electronics in
there."

Us: To say that "I don't care what Microsoft does with their electronics
in there" does not reflect the findings and concerns of most scientists
and is in opposition to the right of citizens to know what is going on in
the election process. We better care what is going on inside the voting
machines. This head-in-the-sand attitude is in complete opposition to the
right of citizens to observe their election processes. How can you claim
to care about voter confidence when you endorse a bill that allows secret
software to count votes?

Holt: "That's not what the bill said when introduced. That's true. The
bill has been changed since I introduced it."

Us: So who lobbied for the change?

Holt: "Microsoft did lobby strongly. It wasn't just Microsoft. It was
everybody who--"

Us: Diebold?

Holt: "No, it was software -- the software industry."

Us: Well it's your bill.

Holt: "No, it's no longer my bill -- well, it's still my bill but it's
been marked up in committee."

Us: Mr. Holt, how can you allow your fellow Representatives to vote for
'Microsoft 811' without telling them of the changes, the industry
lobbying, and in your own words "Unfortunately, the committee that made
this change heard from Microsoft. They heard that voice...the software
industry won"? Since when is it a rule that the group that lobbies
hardest gets to set legislation?

American citizens should not be forced to vote on machines deemed
unsecure and unreliable. But they are -- in thousands of jurisdictions.
They are forced to cast their votes on machines whose results cannot be
proven by the original source votes, whose software is a secret from the
voters themselves. Correcting this intolerable situation must be the
highest priority facing all of us before 2008 election.

It's time to remove H.R.'Microsoft' 811 from consideration and offer
instead a "stripped down" bill focused on what would most secure the 2008
election. We have a crisis...an emergency facing 2008!

It's time to ban DREs for national elections.

It's time for voters and candidates to have meaningful participation in
the vote-counting process.

It's time to acknowledge that democracy is our most important asset. Not
corporate secrecy rights. Not the convenience of election officials. Not
just the appearance of democracy. But real democracy!

Will Congress vote for an "election reform" bill where the voices of
corporate lobbyists insisting on secrecy in vote-counting were heard over
the voices of the voters?

Vote NO on H.R. 'Microsoft' 811.
Vote YES on banning all DREs for 2008 and funding the transition.
Vote YES on giving candidates and voters the right to meaningfully audit
election results.

Coalition for Voting Integrity www.voiceofthevoters.com
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