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Email or call now for State law on verifiable voting! (fwd)



I just sent the below to several hundred people on my local lists.
Please feel free to send all or part to your lists, pronto! I
simplified the contact info which Al forwarded.

Evan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 12:01:03 -0700 (MST)
From: Evan Daniel Ravitz <evan@xxxxxxxx>
To: Voters@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Email or call now for State law on verifiable voting!


Folks,

Alice Madden's bill for verifiable paper ballots passed the State,
Veteran and Military Affairs Committee by 7-4 last week. I
testified. Monday at 1:30 the Local Government Committee considers
it.

Please email or call the Committee members. Otherwise the County
Clerks, who want cheap voting with no paper ballot or a flimsy,
indeciferable receipt-style one, will prevail.

You can cut and paste the emails from this letter I just sent them.
Or, their names and phones are at the end. Feel free to use my
arguments or the whole letter.  ...Evan


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 11:36:08 -0700 (MST)
From: Evan Daniel Ravitz <evan@xxxxxxxx>
To: bob.briggs.house@xxxxxxxxxxx, dale.hall.house@xxxxxxxxxxx,
     frankweddig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, gayle.berry.house@xxxxxxxxxxx,
     grippy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, m.cerbo@xxxxxxx, mary.hodge.house@xxxxxxxxxxx,
     matt.smith.house@xxxxxxxxxxx, McFadyen2002@xxxxxxxxxxx,
     Alice Madden <repmaddenhd10@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     richard.decker.house@xxxxxxxxxxx, terrance.carroll.house@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Pls pass HB 1296 with Schultheis amendment AND the below:


Evan Ravitz
1130 11th St. #3
Boulder CO 80302
(303)440-6838

Dear Local Government Committee members,

Public confidence in voting technology has been severely
compromised, now that computer security experts from across the
country have actually studied voting systems.

Paper ballots are an important part of regaining that confidence,
IF the ballots mean something: they must be the ONLY official
record of our votes and they must be inspectable, in and of
themselves, by people, not just machines.

The Schultheis amendment makes them the sole record. Good.

Rep. Madden's bill mandates manual recounts for local elections.
Good. But it continues to mandate electronic recounts for
congressional, state and district elections.

It should be simplified so that the language for local elections
should apply to all elections.

According to Dr. Charles Corry, who testified on this bill before
the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, testified that
Colorado was the ONLY state mandating electronic recounts he could
find. I am appending the Colorado, California and Texas laws on
election recounts.

Doing recounts the exact same way as counts violates a basic
principle of accounting: cross-checking sums by different methods.
Because the ballot must be secret, GREATER, not lesser care must be
taken with votes than money.

In the future, this will mean using public, rather than proprietary
software for the counting -as Australia has recently done. See the
Wired Magazine article at:

http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,61045,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

Until such time, a paper ballot which can be hand-counted in event
of a recount is the only evidence voters have that elections are
secure.

Evan Ravitz


Colorado, then California, then Texas laws on recount methods:


Colorado Revised Statute 1-10.5-108. Method of recount.

Statute text
(1) The recount shall be of the ballots cast, and the votes shall be
recorded on sheets other than those used at the election.

(2) Unless otherwise directed by the secretary of state, the ballots
cast shall be recounted utilizing the same procedures, methods, and
processes that were utilized for the original count of the ballots
cast.

http://198.187.128.12/colorado/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=fs-main.htm&2.0


California Elections Code:

15627.  If in the election which is to be recounted the votes
were recorded by means of a punchcard voting system or by
electronic or electromechanical vote tabulating devices, the
voter who files the declaration requesting the recount may
select whether the recount shall be conducted manually or by
means of the voting system used originally, or both.

BILL NUMBER: SB 1547	CHAPTERED  09/28/94
	CHAPTER   920
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 28, 1994

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=76483324700+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve

Texas:

§ 214.042. Counting Method for Recount

(a) A person requesting a recount of electronic voting system ballots has a choice of:
(1) an electronic recount using the same program as the original count;
(2) an electronic recount using a corrected program under Section 214.046(c), if obtainable; or
(3) a manual recount as provided by Subchapter A.

Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 211, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1986.
Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., 2nd C.S., ch. 59, § 18, eff. Oct. 20, 1987.

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/cqcgi?CQ_SESSION_KEY=ZYDMGPQMUSIQ&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=128157&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=1&CQ_TLO_DOC_TEXT=YES



Contacts. Please contact them by MONDAY MORNING!


Sponsor:

Madden, Alice, Democrat
Boulder
303-866-2915
repmaddenhd10@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


Local Government Committee:

Weddig, Frank, Democrat
Arapahoe
303 866 2942
frankweddig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Carroll, Terrance, Democrat
Denver
303 866 2909
terrance.carroll.house@xxxxxxxxxxx

Cerbo, Mike, Democrat
Denver
303 866 2911
m.cerbo@xxxxxxx

Hodge, Mary, Democrat
Adams
303 866 2912
mary.hodge.house@xxxxxxxxxxx

McFadyen, Liane "Buffie", Democrat
Fremont-Pueblo
303 866 2905
McFadyen2002@xxxxxxxxxxx

Berry, Gayle, Republican
Mesa
303 866 2908
gayle.berry.house@xxxxxxxxxxx

Briggs, Bob, Republican
Jefferson
303 866 2950
bob.briggs.house@xxxxxxxxxxx

Hall, Dale, Republican
Weld
303 866 2943
dale.hall.house@xxxxxxxxxxx

Smith, Matt, Republican
Delta-Mesa
3068
matt.smith.house@xxxxxxxxxxx

Decker, Richard, Republican
El Paso
303 866 2946
richard.decker.house@xxxxxxxxxxx