Verifiable Vote
By Syndi Holmes
Mar 10, 2004, 01:53

Is there anything more sacred to Americans than the right to vote - even when they do not exercise that right?

The right to vote is sacred whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Green, Independent, conservative or liberal because that vote gives expression to YOUR beliefs.

For all these many years we have voted by our own hand and have personally deposited those ballots ourselves. Recounts were done, when needed and however tediously, by hand with tangible ballots.

Now because of the fiasco in Florida in 2000, we have been "up-graded" to electronic voting and technology is fine, to a point but ANYONE who has or uses a computer knows the unreliability of the machines. In order to maintain the integrity of the voting process, a verifiable paper trail must accompany each and every vote.

You demand that your bank confirms your deposits with paper receipts because if one of your deposits is eliminated from your account, you have that paper to confirm that you indeed gave them your money to place in your account. I doubt that anyone of us would just shrug and walk away from regaining their hard-earned money. We keep our business records for at least seven years to have proof of paying our taxes and proof of all our other transactions. The law demands written proof of transactions-no one's word is legal proof against documentation in a dispute.

Well, it is the same with your vote - our freedom is hard-earned and when we cast a ballot we have a right to see it verified. Unfortunately that right to a secure vote is not guaranteed currently, however there are two bills in Congress to remedy that oversight, HR 2239 would require that all voting machines produce a voter-verified paper trail.

How can ANY American NOT support a bill that guarantees the sanctity of our individual vote? This is not the issue of ANY party rather it is an issue of EVERY American.

I ask each of you to fight for your freedom and your right to vote and call your congressman and senators and demand that they vote to keep our votes verifiable. You can call Congress Toll Free: 1-800-839-5276. Tell them you want your vote to be protected with a paper trail, tell them that you want them to support HR 2239.