Democracy for New Hampshire - Holt Bill

Congressional chaos with election reform

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:59:13 -0400

No to Holt-HR811! Paper, not vapor, please

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:03:06 -0400

Do the right thing by calling, emailing, and faxing or mailing your Representatives with this simple message:

“I urge you to restore the use of paper ballots which are counted in public on election night in all Federal elections. I am very concerned about this serious issue, and I hope that you will take immediate action to protect democracy instead of undermining democracy. Please do not support the Holt bill, and instead, support Congressman Kucinich’s bill calling for hand counted paper ballots. Thank you.”

SOURCE: OpEdNews

September 19, 2007

How to Take Action on Holt and Fix Our Elections

By Mark Adams

I represented Clint Curtis, John Russell, and Frank Gonzalez in contesting their alleged losses in 2006 in Florida State court and in the U.S. House of Representatives. Our contest was instrumental in exerting the pressure to pass a paper ballots law in Florida which at least gives us something to count if someone can find an attorney who will file a lawsuit or a contest. However, these contests were dismissed WITHOUT any review of the evidence and contrary to the law as well as the rights of the candidates and voters to have the votes counted.

Holt Bill paper trail a charade, will not improve security

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:27:13 -0400

Laying to rest the mythological cornerstone of the Common Cause, Move-On, PFAW, True Majority-supported Holt Bill (HR811), the IT industry explains the fallacy of HR811's paper trail promise. No friends of hand count paper ballot system, the group recommends even more costly and insecure computerized solutions! Nonetheless, this report represents the broad consensus that can be found among disparate groups with differing philosophies against the Holt Bill paper trail proposal.
SOURCE: InfoWorld.com

Group says e-voting paper trail wouldn't improve security

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation says that paper trails will add cost but not security, though many analysts disagree with the assertion

By Grant Gross, IDG News Service

September 18, 2007

Requiring print-outs as a back-up to electronic voting machines would not improve security but would increase costs of U.S. voting systems, according to a report released Tuesday.

11 state and local organizations reject Holt Bill (HR811)

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:14:21 -0400

National Governors Association (NGA)
National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS)
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
Council of State Governments (CSG)
National Association of Counties (NACo)
National League of Cities (NLC)
U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM)
National Association of Towns and Townships (NATaT)
National Association of Election Officials (Election Center)
National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks (NACRC)
International Assn of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers (IACREOT)

September 18, 2007

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer:

The undersigned organizations representing state and local governments across the nation respectfully urge you to resist bringing H.R. 811, the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007”, to the House floor during the first session of the 110th Congress.

The majority of states already require a voter-verified paper record of every voter’s vote. H.R. 811 would preempt those laws, requiring states to replace equipment they purchased to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 – even if it already offers a voter-verified paper trail – with technology that does not exist yet. As a result, it imposes an unfunded federal mandate of unknown proportions. In addition, it contains unnecessary and overly broad requirements for many states to enact hasty changes to their voting laws in the 14 months remaining between now and the 2008 Presidential election.

MICROSOFT 811: the Microsoft election reform bill

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:32:23 -0400

SOURCE: Coalition for Voting Integrity

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. . Since Mr. Holt and major supporters of Microsoft 811 refuse to debate, then we must use Mr. Holts own comments to reply and question.

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 electionsin certain elections.

HR811: In Holt's own words, three short videos

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:57:09 -0400

Congress is poised to pass another phony bill. Like the "Patriot Act", designed to strip civil liberties from American patriots and other free citizens of the world, or the "Clear Skies Initiative", designed to allow corporations to pump more poisons into our heavens. The "Voter Confidence Act", or HR811, or the Holt Bill, is being brought to the House floor today.

Learn more about this dangerous legislation from its prime sponsor, Congressman Rush Holt himself. View these three short videos, taken from a town meeting with Congressman Holt's constituents in July 2007.

Is his bill good for the nation? You be the judge.

Microsoft811 (5 minutes)

MICROSOFT 811

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:39:59 -0400

By Mary Ann Gould

Holt: "It's no longer my bill."

In a town meeting in his New Jersey home district in July, Congressman Rush Holt made some disturbing statements which leave no doubt that H.R. 811 has become a bill that protects the interests of software corporations over the rights of citizens. In fact the Holt bill is NOT the Holt bill anymore! It has become 'Microsoft 811'!

Mr. Holt: "The bill has been changed since I introduced it. It's no longer my bill -- well, it's still my bill but it's been marked up in committee."

Further he added:

"Unfortunately, the committee that made this change heard from Microsoft. They heard that Voice. The point is Microsoft did lobby strongly. It wasn't just Microsoft. It was everybody who-"

Audience question: "Diebold?"

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

There is something seriously wrong when a U.S. Congressman can say that an election reform bill he introduced was significantly changed through the lobbying effort of Microsoft and the software industry....that their voices were heard!

Microsoft 811 - Safety For Voting Machine Vendors

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:56:56 -0400

Opinion: Michael Collins

At a New Jersey town meeting this July, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) said of his bill, House Resolution 811, "It’s not my bill anymore."

Why shouldn't the world be safe for vendors? Microsoft in particular? After all, they pay the bills. Just let them have whatever they want and let the rest of us be thankful we’ve got jobs. This is the prevailing philosophy in Washington, DC, your capitol and the supposed heart of modern democracy.

House Resolution 811 ("The Holt Bill") is coming up for a vote this week, word has it. The questions are stark. What will our Congress be voting for? Whose interests are represented in the final mark up of this legislation?

MoveOn Shows Their Bias Again, In Another Flawed Poll

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:49:42 -0400

SOURCE: OpEdNews

September 1, 2007

By Rob Kall

This is the third or fourth time Moveon has run a bogus poll, setting up the answer by providing incomplete, biased information, this time on a bad bill it looks like they want to support. So they leave out key information, ask members to vote, and if they do, based on the info Moveon provides, it looks like moveon got member support. Shame on Move on.

Bev Harris: Holt Bill bait and switch

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:33:14 -0400

Those who pay little attention to history are doomed to repeat it.

I call your attention to HAVA: What they really wanted to achieve was purchase of electronic voting systems. Out of political necessity, they stuck in a few checks and balances. The only thing that held to a hard and fast deadline was PURCHASE OF THE MACHINES. The new standards were developed AFTER the machines,
and many of the supposed checks and balances have yet to be enacted.

What is really desired of the Holt Bill is to centralize power under the EAC and destroy efforts by the public to examine the systems. Those are the two things that will take place immediately. All the other stuff will be delayed, never implemented, or will remain unfunded.

Probe reveals hanky panky with electronic voting machines

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:12:49 -0400

" The only way we the people will know if we have fair and impartial elections is paper ballots, hand counted inside the precincts before they are transported to the county clerk. Anything else will be a continuing illusion and a tragedy for this nation. Do Americans want fast-food style elections or honest ones? High-tech can be good, but we cannot allow it to steal the ballot box in favor of speed".

SOURCE: NewsWithViews.com - Merlin,OR,USA
According to several reports, California computer scientists at leading universities were successful at hacking into machines made by Diebold Election ...

by Jim Kouri, July 30, 2007

Scientists may have proven one of Americans' worst fears: that electronic voting machines can be easily manipulated.

According to several reports, California computer scientists at leading universities were successful at hacking into machines made by Diebold Election Systems, Hart Intercivic and Sequoia Voting Systems. Once they hacked into the systems they were able to change votes.

Hodes continues support of dangerous election reform legislation

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:00:12 -0400

In stubborn defiance of key constituency groups in the Granite State, Congressman Paul Hodes continues to support controversial federal election reform that, if passed, would turn New Hampshire's voting system on its head.

Congress has been trying to sell HR811, aka the "Holt Bill", aka "The Voter Con Act", as a "paper trail" bill. The bill indeed started out that way many years ago, but its promise of providing paper trails to the nation's election systems has morphed into a con, designed by industry special interests, guaranteed to take the voter out of the voting and deliver control of America's elections to the Executive Branch.

The Voter Con Act would codify secret vote counting technology into federal law, forbidding anyone but those "qualified" by the White House to even look at the software counting America's votes, and only then if they sign nondisclosure agreements making it a federal crime to reveal what they see.

Voting Integrity Advocates and the Magic Lasso of Truth

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:58:32 -0400

SOURCE: OpEdNews

By Nancy Tobi

Federal efforts at election reform have turned voting integrity advocates into one big collective Wonder Woman. As the Feds lob one complexity-laden bill after another, we hold our fists high, fearlessly deflecting each assault with our magic bracelets.

More computerized, paperless voting machines? Ping!

More federally certified secret vote counting technologies? Ping! Ping!

More vote counting control by the White House? Ping! Ping! Ping!

How about a little new expensive, privatized, opaque technology to further obscure the vote count? Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

But we can't beat this thing through deflection. It's time to tighten up our Wonder Bra, grab a hold of our golden lasso of truth, and let loose a hearty reckoning of reality. Time to drop a big old nuclear bomb of American idealism and values, Constitutionalism, and historical democratic Republicanism on the Washington superfiends of legislative perversion.

The Electric Kool-Aid Voting Test

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:55:12 -0400

The Electric Kool-Aid Voting Test
Posted By Rebecca Mercuri 19th July 2007 @ 09:52
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4823

(NOTE: Dr. Mercuri will be appearing on today's Peter B. Collins show, as Guest Hosted by Brad Friedman.

Anyone who has been anywhere in the blogosphere in the months since Rush Holt's HR 811 Election Reform bill (2) was introduced, knows that a schism (3) appears to have developed in the voting advocacy community. I say "appears" because it's not terribly clear to me at this point whether this schism existed all along and now the fires are being stoked by rogue insiders in order to fuel a "divide and conquer" effort that benefits voting system vendors who can rise like Phoenixes out of the ashes of the activists, or whether Congressman Holt's bill is a litmus test being used to decide who'll continue to get a seat at the table (to testify at hearings) and a chunk of the grant money and other set-asides for election "research" projects. Maybe both of these actions (and others) are in play.

Ask your rep to sign the Kucinich letter to Pelosi putting the brakes on HR811

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:16:19 -0400

Representative Kucinich to Pelosi: "HR811 not ready for prime time"

Please contact your NH rep and ask them to sign Dennis's letter.

Speaker Pelosi:

We have been made aware of a growing concern with H.R. 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.

Many constituencies important to the Democratic Caucus, including but not limited to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, VotersUnite.Org, and Election Defense Alliance, have expressed frustration with our offices about the process and current legislative text of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.

These constituencies represent a broad range of interests that reflect many of the core values of our party. H.R. 811 now finds opposition from organizations focused on upholding the integrity of our elections and local and states governments. For these constituencies, H.R. 811 falls short of its intended goals to ensure votes are cast and counted as intended by the voters.