HAVA (Help America Vote Act) repackaged as S. 3212
HAVA (Help America Vote Act) repackaged as S. 3212
By Richard Van Slyke July 30, 2008
It’s politics as usual. When the majority of people are opposed to a bill because it doesn’t serve the best interest of the country, Congress drags its feet by repackaging it and going through a lengthy process that insures that nothing will change. S. 3212, the "Bipartisan Electronic Voting Reform Act of 2008", is a typical example of it.
Introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah), it is presented as a bill that will fix the flaws of the 2002 HAVA but in fact will ensure that everything wrong with HAVA will remain.
The main organizations that have been fighting electronic voting for years were quick to oppose the bill. Verified Voting (1) and VoteTrust U.S.A. (2) put out a joint statement that analyzes the main flaws of S.3212.
Just one single item in the bill should raise eyebrows for anyone even remotely aware of the problem with voting machines: It allows electronic “verification” records for electronic voting machines. This is the trick that has been used by states like Georgia and Florida to prevent a real audit of the votes. In case of contestation, the recount can only be made the exact same way as the original count. New hat, old tricks…
Of course, to legitimize the process, public hearings are being held (that’s the “old hat, old tricks” part of it). But guess who was being heard on July 30, 2008? Four strong proponents of electronic voting; all lauding the new bill (3).
Here are some interesting statements by some of these “experts”:
- By Doug Lewis, who is Executive director of both the National Association of Elections Officials and the Election Center: “If at all possible, I will try to do my best to talk you out of the additional audits of elections.” This is coming from a man who takes money from the voting machine manufacturers (4).
- By Todd Rokita, Indiana Secretary of State (and past President of the National Association of Secretaries of State): “The fact that you don’t mandate a paper-only solution for voter verification, the fact that states must identify THEIR contingency plans in the state plan and THEIR poll worker education programs and recruitment plans and THEIR chain of custody procedures recognizes that while all of these issues are vital to a well run election, they are unique to each state.”
However it seems like Congress doesn’t mind unifying voting systems across the nation as long as they are non-verifiable only.
- By Juan E. Gilbert, Associate Professor in Computer Science at Auburn University: “Now I will briefly talk about my research as it relates to this bill. It was within the spirit of equal access for every citizen regardless of ability or disability that my research team developed Prime III.”
This is followed by a pitch for research funding for his department… When money is involved, it always seems to impair judgement and vision.
- The last “expert”, Jim Dickson, is the real visually impaired who, as Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the
American Association of Persons with Disabilities is the “chosen” spokesperson for all disabled individuals in this country. His history of bias toward Diebold make him the favorite “expert” in the field, never to be confronted with disabled persons with opposing views.
Now, keep in mind that the deadline for the implementation of this bill would be 2012, with a two-year extension of 2014. I can’t wait for the “Bipartisan Electronic Voting Act” of 2013! It may well include a provision to ban paper in voting to save the trees. Old hat, new trick.
Links:
(1) - Verified Voting statement: S. 3212: A Step Backward for Voting System Transparency:
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6603
(2) - VoteTrustUSA statement (identical to the one above): S. 3212: A Step Backward for Voting System Transparency: http://votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2916&I...
(3) – Statements of the witnesses at the July 30th hearing:
http://rules.senate.gov/hearings/2008/073008s3212.htm
(4) – Who is Doug Lewis (by VoteTrustUSA):
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=53... -
