BBV - Local daily is on the case

[Cheesehead]

To my surprise the editorial in my local daily the Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent was an overview of the problems associated with touch screen voting machines.

http://www.wisinfo.com/postcrescent/news/archive/opinion_13266433.shtml

Flawed though they are, however, paper, punch-card and optical-scan ballots all leave a paper trail. Touch screens, the newest generation of voting machine do not, and if not made to, will rattle confidence in our system of elections to its foundation.

What was it Ronald Reagan said? Trust but verify? With touch screens, you can’t. The voter goes into the booth, makes his choices and the machines record them according to the way in which they’re programmed.

You can’t audit the tally or recount the votes. What the machine’s software says stands, and nobody can really judge how reliable the software is because the manufacturers claim the codes are proprietary.

<snip>

Add to that distrust an opaque technology sold by a handful of companies, including one whose chairman sent out a fundraising letter to Ohio Republicans in August, saying he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year,” and you can say good-bye to the already shaky confidence Americans have in the electoral process.

Touch screens aren’t approved for use in Wisconsin. But we still need to worry about what they’re using in other states, particularly the heavily populated states that carry so much clout in presidential elections.

<snip>

I'm proud to be an occasional contributor to this paper!

[Indiana_Dem]

1. Thanks!

I look for articles like this to give to the editor of my paper and to post on my "home" discussion board over at democrats.us

We have a topic on this we continually update to each other about issues and articles and how to activate/educate.

So thanks!

[althecat]

2. Cool...

Looks like sensible stuff....

[Spazito]

3. This is good news!

The more local papers that look at this issue the better! Thanks for posting this.

[BevHarris]

4. Wisconsin just passed legislation requiring a paper ballot

All it needs now is to audit what it already has. Wisconsin is halfway there. We need to get the whole country all of the way there.

Bev Harris
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

[creativelcro]

6. things are happening!!

finally... -CV

[RedEagle]

5. Keep The Issue in The Paper

Write letters to the editor. This is usually a favorite piece in the paper, people want to know what others are saying about things.

Guest editorials- yes, you can!