Article: Thirty-Four Election Reform Organizations Urge Congress To Require Paper Ballots

For Immediate Release
Washington, DC
December 14, 2006
Ilene Proctor PR
(310) 271-5857

Thirty-Four Election Reform Organizations Urge Congress To Require Paper Ballots

Responding to the electronic voting machine failures that marred the 2006 elections, 34 non-partisan election reform organizations launched a new campaign today urging Congress to enact legislation requiring a paper ballot for every vote cast. They expect this grassroots campaign to have broad public support and generate thousands of emails to the incoming Congress.

Many of the organizations have previously supported voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPAT), but now, like other citizens across the country, they recognize that electronic voting machines have been national mistake.

"The e-voting machines are a threat to democracy. Putting a VVPAT on them is nothing more than a band-aid. It's like requiring a seat belt in a Ford Pinto. What good does it do when the Pinto explodes?" said Brad Friedman, who co-founded one of the organizations participating in the campaign.

The letter states: "In light of lessons learned during the 2006 primary and general elections -- with myriad contests resulting in uncertainty and thousands of voters in state after state turned away from the polls unable to cast a vote on DRE systems which failed throughout the day -- we now hold that a paper ballot, whether counted by optical-scan system or hand, is the minimum requirement for any Election Reform legislation in which voters may have confidence. Such a requirement is needed to help ensure Americans that every legally registered voter can vote, that every vote is recorded precisely as the voter intends, and that every vote is counted and, if necessary, re-counted accurately.

This year's elections have made crystal clear that electronic voting machines ... caused massive disruptions, undermined the results of crucial elections, and forced thousands of voters to leave the polls without being able to exercise their franchise."

The letter is posted at VelvetRevolution. Individuals and organizations are urged to send their own copy to their Congress Members at Velvet Revolution.

For more information contact:
John Gideon, Executive Director
VotersUnite.Org
(360) 377-4925
jgideon@votersunite.org

Brad Friedman, Co-Founder
VelvetRevolution.us
Proctor PR (310) 271-5857
proctor@anet.net

Holly Jacobson, Co-Director
VoterAction.org
(206) 769 7185
holly@voteraction.org

John Bonifaz, Founder/General Counsel
National Voting Rights Institute
(617) 624-3900, ext. 22
jbonifaz@nvri.org

Matt Holland, Online Director
TrueMajorityAction
(802) 860-6858
matt@truemajority.org