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The loophole in this bill is that it is allows states to slap printers onto the election machines and claim that they have paper trails. Unfortunately that doesn't really solve the core problem.

I discussed this over email with some people at TrueVoteMD and their opinion was that, at least for Maryland, that didn't matter since our voting machines don't even have ports for printers. It still kinda scared me though.

Thank Linda Schade of the Maryland Green Party. http://truevotemd.org/ was all over this. But, defeat could still be snatched from the jaws of victory. Keep calling your legislators.

Some of the objections given at the beginning of the article seem to be worth considering. The straw man debate that follows is just idiotic, however. It might be useful to look at what some actual supporters have to say, supporters like the EFF, Prof. Ed Felten, Ars Technica, the Brennan Center for Justice, People of the American Way, TrueVoteMD, and Prof. Avi Rubin to name a few.

No he wasn't. That was essentially the handiwork of Linda Lamone. Maryland started the move towards DREs before Erhlich even came to office. He simply approved the system that Lamone -- with the help of the NFB (and their $1M grant from Diebold) -- selected.

Republicans have been pretty poor about election integrity at the federal level, but at the state level most of the worst offenders -- Lamone, Cathy Cox, Conny McCormack, George Gilbert, etc -- are Democrats.

-jdm

There hasn't been any general opposition by the Maryland Democratic Party, or even amongst a larger Democratic contingent.

Then why did the MD House pass an election reform bill 137-0 this summer, only to have the Democratic "leadership" in the Senate derail it in their house? How do you explain the fact that this summer Erhlich allocated $21 million to switch to an opscan-based system, which was promptly appropriated by the State Senate and given to State Election Administrator Linda Lamone to purchase her precious electronic poll books (you know, the ones that crashed after 40 voters checked in) in a no-bid contract from Diebold? Details and supporting documentation -- usually in the form of internal documents from the Board of Elections themselves -- for all of these allegations can be found at the TrueVoteMD website.

As for Lamone, she's done her best to silence her critics, bury contradictory reports, hide information from the Governor and the citizens, and then go lie to the legislators in another state about how well everything has gone, finally stating that she will support paper on her touchscreens "over [her] dead body"?

Yeah, this is all just some elaborate political ploy by the Republicans. There's no electoral crisis in Maryland. Everything is going well. Move along, nothing to see here, people!

-jdm

There hasn't been any general opposition by the Maryland Democratic Party, or even amongst a larger Democratic contingent.

Then why did the MD House pass an election reform bill 137-0 this summer, only to have the Democratic "leadership" in the Senate derail it in their house? How do you explain the fact that this summer Erhlich allocated $21 million to switch to an opscan-based system, which was promptly appropriated by the State Senate and given to State Election Administrator Linda Lamone to purchase her precious electronic poll books (you know, the ones that crashed after 40 voters checked in) in a no-bid contract from Diebold? Details and supporting documentation -- usually in the form of internal documents from the Board of Elections themselves -- for all of these allegations can be found at the TrueVoteMD website.

As for Lamone, she's done her best to silence her critics, bury contradictory reports, hide information from the Governor and the citizens, and then go lie to the legislators in another state about how well everything has gone, finally stating that she will support paper on her touchscreens "over [her] dead body"?

Yeah, this is all just some elaborate political ploy by the Republicans. There's no electoral crisis in Maryland. Everything is going well. Move along, nothing to see here, people!

-jdm

Link.

Something smells fishy.

Leaving aside the Sarcasm, that's exactly what we want. Other states including New Mexico and Washington have gone this route as have many counties. In all cases its because of the demonstrated problems with voting systems. In New Mexico's 2004 election we have a perfect test case. In that year the state employed eight different systems scattered more or less randomly thuought the state. Four of these systems were optical scanners and four were paperless touchscreen or push-button DREs (Direct Recording Electronic systems). In the 2004 Presidential race it was found that votes were missing largely from minority voters. Worse yet the missing votes were in up-ticket races, noteably the U.S. Presidential Race. Typically votes are missing for down-ticket races like local judges. Interestingly enough these patternes appeared on all the paperless systems not just systems made by one company or another. Lost votes were not a problem in precincts using the optical scanners. The excess (overcounted) votes were removed because they had the paper backup.

At the risk of nagging people, this info doesn't belong just on /. It belongs in letters to our state and local elections boards (whoever actually sets the law). It belongs in local newspapers via op-eds. Other people are concerned but most of then simply know nothing about these problems. Changing opinions on this issue won't really happen here, but elsewhere.

Some choice morsels of info can be found Here, here, here, here and here

Democrats criticized Ehrlich's apparent shift on the paper-receipt issue, noting that he vetoed a bill last year that would have studied the option.

The whole issue of verified voting has been mired in stupid partisan squabbling for over 4 years. The entire Demoblican duopoly deserves large shares of scorn, blame, and (in a much better universe than this one) defeat at the polls.

1. Shortly after the Florida chad fiasco of 2000, our elections administrator Linda Lamone decided to buy DRE machines from Diebold. Voter advocacy groups weren't loud enough ($$$) to block it.
2. TrueVote eventually started building momentum & influence, but neither Lamone (D) nor Erlich (R) were interested.
3. Once the voting population finally made themselves heard, the state legislature (both sides) voted in favor of fixing the machines.
4. Diebold then laughed at Maryland for failing to request paper trails previously.
5. This week, after Erlich realized that this issue could help his reelection bid, he came out in favor of fixing the machines too. So here we are.

What's really amazing/frightening to me is how long it has taken for the mainstream media to pick this up. The tests done by Harri Hursti for Leon County were conducted and reported back on December 13th, 2005! The Post waited until a slow news day over a month later to report on it. Since then, there's been a whole slew of additional activity on the voting machines front. For more details, see the original blackboxvoting.org article.

--Paul

Disclaimers: I have been working with the good folks at TrueVoteMD.org to get the d*mned things banned in Maryland, my home state; I'm also a plaintiff in a lawsuit in Maryland that seeks to force the Maryland State Board of Elections to follow exsting state law and get rid of them.

Sign up to be a pollwatcher with truevotemd.org. I think they're still looking for people to help observer polling stations and record any annomolies. It's non-partisan and you aren't there to yell at anyone, simply to observe and record any information that can be used to discredit the machines or maybe even sued Diebold "out the yin-yang" and get some of our tax money back.

If you'd like to do more, sign up with TrueVoteMD to be a poll watcher and report technical or other voting problems - there are still many precincts needing poll watchers. They're desparate for people with computer skills to be poll watchers.

You can choose the precinct and hours... There is still 1 training session left (on Sunday), so its not too late to sign up.

If you're in Maryland and want to help out, come join us at www.truevotemd.org. We have a lawsuit going to force the state to decertify the Diebold machines, and we're also planning a number of other public actions to raise awareness and put pressure on our elected and appointed officials. Linda Schade, one of the co-directors, was a speaker at the press conference that MoveOn held outside the EAC hearing.

--Paul Suh

Montgomery County, MD: TrueVoteMD announced plans for protest inside and outside of key voting precincts on March 2, Primary Day. Voters are insisting that they be allowed to vote on paper ballots so their votes will be counted and to make a statement that they do not support the use of paperless electronic voting machines i.e. electronic elections without a voter verified paper record for independent audits and recounts.

TrueVoteMD picketers will be carrying signs that feature Uncle Sam asking, Will Your VoteCount? Demand A Paper Ballot as well as signs directed at the Chairs of the key committees, Delegate Sheila Hixson of Montgomery County and Senator Paula Hollinger of Baltimore County. The voters group will also be handing out literature describing the security and other problems with the electronic machines and how to demand a paper ballot. See www.TrueVoteMD.org to see the flyers and Uncle Sam posters.

Demonstrations of opposition to the paperless voting machines will continue inside the voting precinct as well. Voters will be demanding provisional paper ballots because the machines are insecure and without an independent voter verified paper audit record there is no way to conduct independent audits or recounts. TrueVoteMD is sponsoring an Election Day Hotline for voters who want assistance in speaking with their election judges.

We will not let the Board of Elections legitimize these machines by forcing us to vote on them, claimed Linda Schade, a co-director of TrueVoteMD. We are demanding paper ballots. If they refuse, it clearly shows they know that voters, if given the choice, will choose paper over electronic ballots. If they deny us our right to have our votes counted, we will file formal complaints against the State for using unacceptable paperless voting machines.

Last week, the City of Takoma Park, Maryland passed a resolution encouraging passage of the House and Senate paper trail bills (HB53 and SB393) requiring voter verified paper audit trails. Takoma Park Mayor wrote the Board of Elections asking that the citizens of Takoma Park be given the choice of paper ballots on Primary Day.

Montgomery County Demonstration:7600 Flower Ave. (near Carroll Avenue) at11:30am 1:00pm. Among the speakers, Marc Elrich, the sponsor of the Takoma Park Resolution. in Delegate Hixson's district
Contact on Tuesday Linda Schade 703-981-3619 cell

Baltimore County Demonstration: [precinct address to be announced], 3:00pm to 4:30pm in Senator Hollinger's district
Contact on Tuesday Bob Ferraro240-899-0263 cell

Annapolis City Demonstration: 8am event at Bates Middle School 7001 Chase Avenue. Picketing til noon.
Contact on Tuesday Rob Tufts 443-838-4963.

Carrol County Demonstration: details to be announced.

Campaign forVerifiable Voting in Maryland
www.TrueVoteMD.org 7711 GarlandAve.,Takoma Park, MD 20912 301-270-6150

The Campaign for Verified Voting in Maryland has a website at www.truevotemd.org. If you're a Maryland voter or just want to show your support, go there and sign up. If you're going to vote on Tuesday in Maryland's primary, we're organizing a protest to demand paper ballots.

The problem in Maryland is that the officials at the State Board of Elections are in Diebold's pocket. Realize that San Diego and other California counties are getting voter-verified paper trail equipment from Diebold for free, despite paying only 60% as much for the machines as Maryland. Maryland also bought a much larger order. However, since the SBE officials won't go to bat Diebold is trying to charge big bucks for the VVPT. Diebold is also spending heavily in lobbying and contributing to the Maryland Delegates and State Senators who could pass legislation that would force a VVPT.

Some other good sites if you're interested in this topic:

www.verifiedvoting.org
www.blackboxvoting.org

--Paul

The full RABA report is online at Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland. Don't forget to send the email to Maryland officials. Pressure is crucial now! The bill is in danger of getting stuck in committee. Brian Judy CCVMD

The full RABA report is online at Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland. Don't forget to send the email to Maryland officials. Pressure is crucial now! The bill is in danger of getting stuck in committee. Brian Judy CCVMD

I forgot to mention a couple websites that are pushing for a voter verifiable paper trail in MD and nationwide: Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland and Verified Voting - Campaign to Demand Verifiable Election Results

We are a recently formed group of concerned citizens who are pressuring the state to adopt a voter verified paper audit trail as a first step toward some form of accountability. A big argument has been the cost of adding printers, but apparently Diebold has started giving them away. "Diebold has agreed to modify the county's machines for free by the 2006 deadline so voters can review a printout of their ballots before casting them." Campaign for Verified Voting in Maryland

In Maryland check http://www.truevotemd.org We are a group of concerned citizens who are pressuring the state to adopt a verified paper audit trail.