LIBERADIO(!)

Knoxville News-Sentinel Nashville Bureau chief Tom Humphrey tracked down State Election Coordinator Mark Goins for a statement about HB614/SB0872 – which would delay implementation of paper ballot elections in Tennessee – failing to pass in the Senate:

Sponsors said a delay will save money for counties in tight financial times and state Election Coordinator Mark Goins says no machines are currently available to meet criteria set out in the law enacted last year.

Wrong and not only wrong, but if you want to read it the way Coordinator Goins is reading it, easily fixed.

As Pam Smith of Verified Voting points out to me in an mail:

As to the comment Sen. Ketron made about the 2005 standards becoming law, he’s referring to the “Voluntary Voting System Guidelines” in the 2005 iteration. These guidelines are expected to be updated soon. No state can be forced to adhere to them. The federal government can impose some standards, which it did with HAVA, and which it could with amendments to HAVA, but the only pending amendment to HAVA is the Holt bill. It requires optical scan. If TN buys opscan for 2010, they would not have to replace it when Holt passes.

As for the cost of the ballots, which sponsor Senator Bill Ketron suggested would cost Tennessee counties $4 million dollars:

It would take four elections a year, with 100% turnout expected, at $0.25/ballot, for TN to even get close to $4 million dollars for ballot costs. If the whole state goes optical scan, the SoS and Elections could negotiate a fair ballot price for the entire state, which could be below $0.25 per ballot, and everyone wins.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, there is only one reason why the Secretary of State’s office is pushing so hard to delay implementation of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act – they simply do not want it.

(H/T and stolen post title: A Kleinheider Joint)

UPDATE: The AP released a story as well but makes a common mistake. it states: “Under the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act passed last year, new optical-scan machines are required to create a paper trail in case there are voting irregularities. Every county in the state was supposed to have the machines ready in time for the gubernatorial election in 2010.” The machines are not required to create a paper trail. The voters are required to vote on a paper ballot, which the optical-scan machine counts. This is what makes the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act such a strong piece of legislation – the focus is on recording the voter intent first before a machines ever touches it. This also allows for hand counts of the ballots that have recorded the voter’s intent in the cases of recounts and counting machine malfunctions.