As Gathering to Save Our Democracy, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, VerifiedVoting.org, Voter Action, and VotersUnite.org, stated in a press release, yesterday’s floor debate missed the mark:

Arguments made during the Wednesday night debate focused on the 2005 voluntary federal standards, which Tennessee law now requires for all voting equipment. Rep. Gary Moore (D-Joelton) spoke of the need to wait for paper ballot scanners compliant with the 2005 voluntary guidelines.

“Rep. Moore’s argument is like wanting to wait to put a roof on your house until fancier shingles come along, when all the while there are perfectly good materials to keep the rain out,” VerifiedVoting.org president Pamela Smith said. “The argument ignores the TACIR recommendations back in 2008, and ignores the findings of other major state reviews of voting systems in Kentucky, Ohio, Connecticut, and California,” she said. “States that have taken a serious look at voting system security are not saying, ‘Let’s wait for new paper ballot scanners.’ Current paper ballot scanners have proven themselves time and again in live elections, so in the last two years states like Kentucky, Florida, California, and Iowa are moving to better systems that are available now,” she said. Existing optical scan systems have proven highly accurate, she added. A study of the recount of the 2008 Minnesota US Senate election showed paper ballot scanners to be 99.99% accurate.

Removing the requirement for a hand counted audit flies against the recommendations of many computer scientists. “HB 614’s new “audit” scheme would be an ineffective way of detecting software error. It would take less time and be just as effective to make election officials do a brief incantation and certify the election,” Smith said.

“Last year, over 50 counties in Kentucky switched to paper ballot scanners. Kentucky is ahead of Tennessee in trustworthy voting,” said Ellen Theisen, Director of VotersUnite.org.

On Monday, a group of computer scientists sent lawmakers a letter explaining the need for a hand count to check electronic vote tallies. Over half the states have conducted a hand-count sample to verify electronic vote tallies, or plan to do so in future elections. Hand-counted audits also were also recommended by the 2008 report of the Tennessee Advisory Commission in Intergovernmental Relations (pdf).

HB 614 amends the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (TVCA). The Voter Confidence Act was enacted in 2008 after TACIR recommended that the state adopt voting technology with a reliable, independent paper record of every vote, and that election officials use those records to conduct routine hand-counted audits of electronic vote tallies. When the law takes effect, all votes in Tennessee elections will be cast on paper ballots read by electronic scanners.

The state has sufficient federal funds on hand to pay for the law’s shift to better equipment. All but two counties in Tennessee now use purely electronic voting machines with no paper trail. In recent years, paperless electronic voting systems have been strongly criticized by leading computer scientists. The TACIR report noted that if Tennessee’s electronic voting machines store votes incorrectly because of malfunction or fraud, recounts are “useless.”

“Delaying the implementation of the Voter Confidence Act until 2012 (if it is even implemented then) does nothing whatsoever to protect and honor our franchise,” said Bernie Ellis of Gathering to Save Our Democracy. “It’s hard to fathom the legislature doing the exact right thing just last year, and now trying to do the wrong thing. It makes no sense at all. Voters deserve better,” said Smith.

The group, and just about every citizen in Tennessee, urges the Senate to reject the delay. The Senate will take up the bill this afternoon at 3 PM.

A shout out to Speaker Kent Williams (R-Carter County, the Fightin’ 4th!) too, who wandered in to break the tie on HB1841 (which would urge the state executive committees to jointly establish a calendar of appearances of its gubernatorial candidates in all 95 counties), but who stayed just long enough to ask all the right questions about the constitutionality of the bill’s exceptions and the lack of tangible evidence of voter fraud in the state.

“We need legislation to prevent fraud,” Speaker Williams said, “But I’m not sure your vehicle is the right vehicle.” And then, *poof,* he was gone, leaving the meeting before the vote and without breaking the tie that would have moved the bill out of committee.

Rep. Tindell asked all the right questions and touched on all the salient points including the requirement that the ID be government issue only; the cost – in effort, time and coin – of obtaining such an ID; the number of people in the state who do not have a photo ID; the problem with provisional ballots; and the lack of fairness inherent in the legislation (if it’s going to be required, than it needs to be free for everyone):

Also written into the bill was an exception that would have allowed a voter to be excused from presenting a photo ID by signing a sworn statement of indigency. State Coordinator Goins and Rep. Tindell went head to head on the automatic loophole set up by this exception:

More importantly, though, if it’s enough for some of us to simply sign a sworn statement for their votes to count without having to show a photo ID, then why isn’t is OK for the rest of us?

Rep. Yokley once again made reference to the illegality of voter fraud and the stiff penalty attached – it’s a felony, don’t you know, punishable by a fine and a stiff jail sentence. And even though there is currently no one in jail for committing voter fraud, the proof offered by the Coordinator Goins that voter fraud exists was the famous Oh-My-God-Dead-People-In-Shelby-County-Voted-in-the-Opehlia-Ford-Senate-Election.

But what we know about that case is that the three people who plead guilty to faking votes – “two of them cast in the names of dead people” – were poll workers, not voters. And fraud by poll workers is election fraud – not voter fraud.

And it’s the poll workers who would be checking photo IDs.

Free ice cream two days in a row and a dead photo ID bill. This is the Best Week Ever!

Odds are that this bill will be disposed of in place of one that will delay implementation of the bill until 2012, which is frustrating on a number of levels.

First, the original Voter Confidence Act was crafted for implementation in 2008. But then-Secretary of State Riley Darnell and Election Coordinator Brook Thompson said they couldn’t get it done by then. So, a compromise was reached for 2010. The bill for 2010 sailed though both houses (unanimously in the Senate and by an overwhelming majority – 96 to 3 – in the House) and the Governor happily signed it into law. We’ve already compromised once. Why do we need to again?

Second, what the hell was Mr. Darnell and Mr. Thompson doing for the past year? Because now we’re being asked, once again, to postpone our best chance – outside of hand counted paper ballots – of having secure and verifiable elections again because the current Secretary of State, Tre Hargett, and Election Coordinator, Mark Goins, say that 18 months is not enough time to obey the law.

Third, I’ve heard all the reasons why they say we must postpone and they are simply not satisfactory.

Last week during the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act Study Committee Democratic members of the General Assembly dispensed with some of them…and activists with the rest.

First, Rep. Gary Moore on fuzzy math and the “We have no place to store the paper ballots” excuse:

Rep. Moore: Right…but, again…I’ve looked at these numbers and I’m not going to get into an argument with you but these numbers are erroneous numbers because you’re assuming it don’t cost anything to store that other equipment…the DREs have to be stored somewhere now, do they not?

Wayne Pruitt: Yes, sir.

Rep. Moore: And they have to be stored in a secure place, do they not?

Wayne Pruitt: We take the most secure place available to us.

Rep. Moore: That’s what I thought. But does it show what it costs to do that? Does it show that cost? What I’m getting at, I don’t mind these numbers here if you say it costs an additional amount to hold an election – but this is what it costs to hold an election under the paper ballot scenario. What does it cost to hold an election under the DRE scenario? And then you put the two side by side and see what any additional costs would be. I think that would be a true, fair assessment. Thank you.

Next, Senator Roy Herron on “we don’t have enough time and/or money; we don’t have machines that qualify; we should wait until the feds butt in:”

Senator Roy Herron: Mr. Goins, what I’m wanting to do, that we can be as certain as human beings can be are legitimate, honest and fair. That is my number one goal…and if it costs a little bit, I understand that. I’d rather pay less than more but my real goal, my number one goal, is that when you’re talking about elections and the very basis for this republic to operate in this state to select its elected officials that’s worthy of some investment. Now, whatever mistakes have been made in the past, I can’t do anything about. Whatever the federal government may do in the future, I can’t do anything about. What I can do, I think, is to ask people I trust and respect like you and the Secretary of State, is to give us the recommendation on something that can give us a fair degree of certitude that the elections will be fair, honest and right. And we can know that when people cast their ballot it will be recorded accurately. That’s what I’m asking for. What I’m hearing from you, just to be clear, is you can’t get it done in 18 months, and you don’t know if there’s any standards that would work, and you’re not sure there’s any state that sets a good model. If that’s not what you’re saying you need to tell me the opposite of those three things, now or later, because that’s what I’m taking from you.

You know, this is why folks get frustrated with government. I understand that frustration but for you to tell me in 18 months “we can’t it done,” “woe is me,” “there’s no standard,” “there’s no state,” “I’m not man enough to get this done.” Now, surely that’s not what you’re telling me. You’ve got too much ability. I know the Secretary of State has too much ability because I worked with him too much to think otherwise to think that in 18 months we can’t figure out a way to get it done. Now whether we should have stimulus money or we shouldn’t, there is some one-time money around. And there ought to be some funds that we can put in this. And I don’t know anything more important to invest in than this democracy.

Finally, concerned citizens who have been eating and breathing election stats dispensed with the numbers:

Bernie Ellis, Gathering to Save Our Democracy: “We think, and I’ve shared this with the committee, and I’ll end with this point, rather than speculating on what the costs are, which again is really all the counties can do at this point, if you look at states like Florida and North Carolina who have gone through this process before us and have had enough counties who have used both systems so they can compare apples to apples, in Florida, the counties that went to DREs spent six times more money than the counties that went to OpScan [optical scan]. In North Carolina, over a six year period counties that used OpScan actual election expenses not estimated expenses but actual expenses that were 35-40% lower then counties using DREs. Those aren’t guesstimates, those are hard figures from comparable counties. If our concern – and I’ll finish with this – if our concern is saving money, and it should be, uh, a secondary concern to having an election process we can trust, but if it’s a concern, the best thing you can do for counties is implement OpScan by 2010. They’ll save 35-40% of their operating costs if they move that way and again if you have questions we can share with you why there is such a difference in cost.”

Tomorrow’s hearing of the Senate State and Local Government Committee is in Legislative Plaza Room 12 at 8:00 am.

Again, it still has to pass in the Senate so it’s time to get on the phone one more time. You can find your State Senator here. Once again, the message is: “I am counting on you to vote in favor of SB 1363, the Voter Confidence Act, when it comes to the floor for a vote.”

Dear Senator ______________,

I am a constituent of yours, and I would like to ask you to vote in favor of SB 1363, the Voter Confidence Act. It is expected to be ready for a floor vote in the next few days. If passed, this bill will ensure that we vote on durable paper ballots that are tallied by an optical scanner, and retained in a locked ballot box. These paper ballots also become the ballot of record in case a recount is necessary.

This new system will replace the touchscreen electronic voting machines, offering us verifiable ballots, no long lines at the polls, and a system that is less expensive for counties to use.

The cost of changing our voting equipment will be met with federal funds already held by our state.

I look forward to your voting YES to SB 1363. Thank you for your attention to my views on this critical issue.

Sincerely,
Name
Address
Phone Number

Go Senate!

It also might be nice to drop a quick note to your representative thanking them for their vote!

*Not to mention Jim Jones out in Williamson County, Jane Hardy, Lynn Williams, Shannon Williford, Linden Williford, Ann Williford, Holly Quick, Joe Irrera, Phil Scoggins, Elizabeth Barker, Chick Westover, Barbara Jones, Joyce Kisner, Mary Louise Linn, and Dave Thomas.

Over 100,000 votes went uncounted in Florida’s November 2006 election — all on the ES&S iVotronic paperless touchscreen voting machines — as described in a recently released report by Florida Fair Elections Center. The report, the result of a year-long investigation by FFEC Executive Director Susan Pynchon and FFEC Research Director Kitty Garber, concludes that it was the failure of the iVotronic machines that resulted in thousands of uncounted votes in the closely-contested November 2006 Congressional District 13 race in Sarasota County–a race that has been the subject of two lawsuits to overturn the results of that election, and which is still the subject of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Congressional House Administration Committee and the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO).

If “ES&S iVotronic” and “paperless touchscreen voting machines” sound familiar to some of you it’s because 17 out of 95 counties in Tennessee use these machines and, if things don’t go well next week, we’ll be using them again in the November election. ES&S is also the same company that tried to surreptitiously change the contract it had with the state to allow for used equipment in the August 2006 election.

On Tuesday, January 29, the Elections of S&LG (Subcommittee for the House State and Local Government Committee) meets to discuss HB 1256 by Rep. Gary Moore (SB 1363 by Senator Joe Haynes) that would require “any voting system purchased after the effective date of this act to provide the ballot of record be a paper ballot marked by the voter with appropriate accommodation for persons with disabilities; requires such ballot to be available to voter to verify the vote; requires that secrecy of the voter’s choice be maintained.” If it passes the subcommittee then it’s on to the State and Local Government Committee (cue “I’m Just a Bill“).

Please contact the members of the subcommittee before Tuesday and urge them to recommend sending this bill to the committee:

Rep. Eddie Yokley, Chair (D – Greeneville) Email / Phone (615) 741-6871
Rep. Robert Bibb (D – Springfield) Email / Phone (615) 741-3979
Rep. Joey Hensley (R – Hohenwald) Email / Phone (615) 741-7476
Rep. Curtis Johnson (R – Clarksville) Email / Phone (615) 741-4341
Rep. Ulysses Jones (D – Memphis) Email / Phone (615) 741-4575
Rep. John Litz (D – Morristown) Email / Phone (615) 741-6877
Rep. Steve McManus (R – Cordova) Email / Phone (615) 741-1920
Rep. Gary Moore (D – Joelton), Email / Phone (615) 741-4317

Go to VoteSafeTN.org to find all the information you need to contact the members of the committee and urge them to take immediate action so Tennessee may have secure November elections. And if you can, please attend the meeting.

The agenda [pdf] is interesting. Chairman Burchett has asked that Common Cause of Tennessee, Gathering to Save our Democracy, Secretary of State Riley Darnell, and State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson be present for questions/clarification from the committee. Hijinks will surely ensue.

In Tennessee, 93 out of 95 counties use electronic voting machines with no voter verifiable paper trail. That means there is no way to be completely sure of an accurate tally or recount in the event one is needed.

This Thursday, January 10, the legislature’s Voter Confidence Act Legislative Study Committee will meet to discuss the findings of the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) report, “Trust But Verify,” which recommends that to improve election integrity in Tennessee we move away from electronic voting machines and replace them with paper-based optical scan machines. Now is the time for them, and us, to act.

Please contact the members of the Study Committee and urge them to move fast so that we may have optical scan machines in place prior to the November 2008 election. Urge them to support SB 1363 (Senator Haynes), HB 1256 (Representative Moore), legislation that will mandate that all voting equipment in Tennessee use or produce a voter-verified paper ballot and that statewide random post-election manual audits be conducted to verify the vote count. Ask them to make sure this is done prior to the November election. You can find all the information you need to act immediately, including email addresses, phone numbers, and talking points at http://www.votesafetn.org.

A couple of things to remember because the Election Commission and perhaps even some legislators will tell you the opposite – there is time to implement these changes before November and we do have the money. 35 million federal dollars allocated through the Help America Vote Act are available and waiting for this very rainy day. It is estimated that cost of replacing the machines in all 93 counties is 12 million, with another 12 million to be spent to help those voting who special needs.

I mean, really, if Tennessee legislator Jason Mumpower wants the balls back because he doesn’t trust computers to pick our lottery numbers, how can he possibly trust them to accurately count our votes?

Also, One of Nashville’s own, filmmaker David Earnhardt, has produced a marvelous and timely documentary on the subject that tells the story of how the issue of election integrity and electronic voting traveled from the fringes to the mainstream due to the hard work of some local activists as well as the bravery of whistleblowers throughout the country. These are the stories of citizens who recognized the threat to our franchise and chose to do the right thing. David’s film, Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections, will be have two screenings at the Belcourt Theatre on the Monday, February 4, 6:30 and 9:30, the night before Super Duper Tuesday.