Dear Margit,
We need your help today to make sure that Congress does not reverse the nation's progress toward voter-verified paper ballots. It is not an exaggeration to say this could be one of the most important actions you ever take on the issue of verified voting. After you take action, please forward this message to your friends.
Here is what's happening. This Wednesday, the U.S. Senate will hold hearings on S.3212, a bill aimed at providing independent verification of ballots cast on electronic voting machines. That's a laudable goal, but S.3212 gets it wrong - very wrong.
S.3212 would allow electronic "verification" of votes cast on electronic voting machines. If S.3212 becomes law, elections in many states would still depend on the trustworthiness of computer software. This bill also fails to require hand audits of federal election results, and contains other measures that could set back years of progress toward transparent and trustworthy elections.
Click here to tell your Senators to oppose S.3212.
If the link above does not work, here is the address of the Web page where you can send a message to Senators:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/199/t/6122/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25256
Senator Feinstein and Senator Bennett are the chair and ranking member of the committee that oversees federal election law, so this bill could become law one day - unless Senators hear a clear message that it is not acceptable. Even if S.3212 does not advance in this Congress, Senator Feinstein and Senator Bennett may see it as the starting point for legislation in 2009. They need to hear from you now in order to make sure that future federal legislation advances, rather than reverses, progress toward verified voting.
Click here to tell your Senators to oppose S.3212.
We have made too much progress to let this bill become law. Most states have taken steps to require verifiable voting systems, but a number have not. S.3212 could leave millions dependent on paperless electronic voting for the foreseeable future. With your help, we can prevent this bill from moving forward, and continue the progress we have made toward real verification of our elections.
Please act today, and forward this message on to your friends! Thank you for all you do.
Best regards,
The Team at Verified Voting
P.S. Your support is needed; please consider donating to VerifiedVoting.org, our 501c4 lobbying organization (non-tax-deductible) or to Verified Voting Foundation (tax-deductible). Donations to VerifiedVoting.org, while not tax-deductible, are where your contribution can help most in the fight against S.3212.