From an email I received:
The DRE ban is in jeopardy. Both the Senate and House Privileges and Elections Committees are looking at bills to reverse it, and members who previously voted for the ban are showing signs of caving to pressure from registrars unhappy with the ban. They have got to hear from you by February 3, so please make some phone calls!
Two years ago, a massive push from voters succeeded in convincing the Virginia legislature to ban the purchase of new paperless touchscreen and other DRE voting machines, putting us on our way towards truly verifiable voting. The registrars fought the ban very hard, and this year they have organized a big campaign to reverse the ban. The problem is, they may succeed. The voters who turned out to support the ban have moved on to other issues, on the assumption that the victory would be permanent. As a result, legislators are hearing only one side–that of the registrars. And it’s working. At the Senate P&E meeting on Tuesday, and again in a House subcommittee the next day, legislators were looking for a way to make the registrars happy. The registrars were out in force, compared to only a few people taking the voters’ side. Both committees decided to put off a vote until next week. That gives us until February 3 to make our voices heard.
Remember why we wanted paper trails? Nothing has changed. DREs can still be misprogrammed, hacked, or suffer crashes. Without a paper back-up, voters can’t be assured of the integrity of an election outcome. Optical scan machines are faster, cheaper, and come with their own paper trail–the ballots.
The two bills in question are SB988 and HB2422. The Senate P&E Committee meets next Tuesday at 4pm. The House P&E subcommittee on Campaign Finance meets Wednesday at 5pm and the full House P&E committee meets Friday at 9:30am. Please contact your legislators and let them know that Virginians want verifiable voting and that reintroducing DRE machines is a step backwards.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 