So there I was minding my own business in the LP cafeteria last March when State Election Coordinator Mark Goins plopped down in the chair besides me.
After an exchange of pleasantries, we got into a spirited discussion about HB0614, the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (aka the paper ballot bill).
We didn’t agree on much: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying new optical scan voting machines certified to 2002 Election Assistance Commission standards. He thinks that would be a waste of money. I think there is no way to do a meaningful recount with the machines we use now. He thinks that pressing a button and getting the same total that you got before is a meaningful recount. I know that conducting an election with paper ballots is cheaper than conducting an election with paperless electronic voting machines. He disagrees.
But we do agree, according to him, on the importance of paper ballots. “I’m on the side of paper ballots,” he said.
That’s why, he continued, he’s conducting an all paper ballot election in Roane County on June 2 and inviting 12 new Election Administrators in the area to monitor and “learn from it.”
“I’m a friend of paper ballots,” he said again, “But when you push your friends too far, sometimes they bite back.”
And, he added, “I’m this close to biting back.”
This afternoon (or maybe tomorrow…or the next day…) on the floor of the House we will see the size of the chomp Coordinator Goins will take out of paper ballots – and Tennessee’s secure and verifiable elections.
It’s been nice to know, all this time, that his decision on whether to allow implementation of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act to go ahead for the 2010 election was based solely on what’s best for the voters of Tennessee and not on how much push-back he received from people who disagree with him.
UPDATED 6/25/09: In response to Jeff Wood’s fantastic post (“What Kind of Buffoons are Running the Secretary of State’s Office Now“) on the misuse of power in the Secretary of State’s office, I must clarify one thing…during my discussion with Mr. Goins I never felt personally threatened. If I had, I would have pulled a Hargett and gotten the TBI involved.
That said, Mr. Goins did indeed threaten the implementation of the law (Tennessee Voter Confidence Act) that would bring paper ballots – and secure and viable elections – to Tennessee.
As I wrote originally, it was nice to finally find out definitively that his decision on whether to allow implementation of the paper ballot bill for the 2010 election was based solely on how much push-back he received from people who disagreed with him rather than what was best for the voters of Tennessee.
HB614 (SB872), which would have delayed implementation of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act, was beaten back a bit by a well-informed and impassioned Senator Roy Herron (D-Dresden). Senator Herron, who offered an amendment to address all the concerns of those orchestrating the delay, along with Senators Jim Kyle and Andy Berke, gave the citizens of Tennessee who want secure and verifiable elections a voice on the Senate floor.
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