Comments on: Tre Hargett Never Sends Us Press Releases About Laws He Won’t Comply With

By: If You Hold an Election, Cheaters Will Come » LIBERADIO(!)

If You Hold an Election, Cheaters Will Come » LIBERADIO(!) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:11:48 +0000

[...] Hrm…a system that has a backup…where you might do both things…where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, it’s the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act that was passed almost unanimously in 2008 by both the state House and Senate and would allow us to vote on paper ballots that would then get counted by a machine but that maintains the paper ballot as the ballot of record in case of necessary recounts and is now the law that Secretary of State Hargett refuses to implement. [...]

By: Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Chip Forrester on Liberadio(!) Monday, July 13 » LIBERADIO(!)

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:57:08 +0000

[...] forward to discussing Chip’s call today for the firing of Secretary of State Tre Hargett for refusing to implement the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (TVCA), the law that mandates that all county election [...]

By: Dick Williams

Dick Williams — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:34:02 +0000

It’s probably the case that no other state has exactly the same language about the standards. I am researching exactly when this language was finalized. As you remember, there were dseveral amended versions with input from several people – not all of whom we agreed with. I’ll need more time to more fully answer this. I know that we certainly did not intend to create a catch 22, but wanted to have the best standards. We probably did not think in terms of 2005, but if election officials and a significant number of legislators have bought that then we need to clarify our position with legislative or legal action.

By: Bernie Ellis

Bernie Ellis — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:43:46 +0000

Although I am loath to quote former State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson (who got us in this mess to begin with) on anything, Brook was fond of saying “It is what it is.”

If no state currently uses (or can use) voting machines certified to 2005 EAC voluntary standards (because no voting machine company has applied to meet those standards), how on earth could â€œ… shall have been certified by the election assistance commission as having met the applicable voluntary voting systems guidelines;[TCA Section 2-20-104(a)(1)]…â€ be interpreted to mean that Tennessee — and only Tennessee — must comply with those standards?

Whose interpretation is that anyway? Certainly not ours, certainly not any other state in this union, certainly not people who want free, fair and verifiable elections in Tennessee.

Seriously, Dick, since you’ve been in on more of these inside conversations than any of us, when (and by whom) was this convenient (for election fraud enablers) leap made to insert “2005″ in the interpretation of a law that says nothing about 2005 anywhere? Might it have been by the same people (or their legislative enablers) who don’t support verifiable elections to begin with?

Just askin’ (and really hoping for an answer).

By: Dick Williams

Dick Williams — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:51:28 +0000

Mary:
While I agree that the 2005 standards could be considered an “updated version of the 2002 standards,” without a legal or legislative clarification, the TVCA language is being interpreted as requiring 2005 standards. It would be easy to clarify this, but it would require the administrative, legislative, or judicial will to do so.

By: Mary Mancini

Mary Mancini — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:45:58 +0000

I don’t agree, Dick. Considering that the 2002 “applicable voluntary voting systems guidelines” from the EAC have not been replaced by 2005 standards – rather, they are simply an updated version of the 2002 standards – nothing is specific written into the TVCA about 2005 standards at all.

By: Dick Williams

Dick Williams — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:18:53 +0000

Unfortunately, the specific language does not use the term “2005″ but that’s what “shall have been certified by the election assistance commission as having met the applicable voluntary voting systems guidelines;[TCA Section 2-20-104(a)(1)]” means. While the federal guidelines are voluntary, this language makes them apparently mandatory in TN. Of course both Rep. Gary Odom and Sen. Roy Herron filed and argued for amendments to this language last month that would have clarified that the intent is to have the paper ballots rather than to focus on the 2005 standards. Unfortunately, the Secretary of State and Election Coordinator consider optical scanners that meet current standards in more than 30 states is going “backwards” and “weakening” from our currently unreliable DREs.

By: Secretary of State calls Voter Confidence Act a ‘catch-22′ « Nashville Is Talking

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:38:28 +0000

[...] Bernie Ellis ain’t buying it. [...]

By: Tre Hargett Really Wants To Make The Voter Confidence Act Work : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:08:30 +0000

[...] Tre Hargett Never Sends Us Press Releases About Laws He Won’t Comply With » LIBERADIO(!) writes July 7th, 2009 5:02 pm [...]