I am thrilled at our upcoming Democratic majority in both houses of congress. The fact that we are going to see some real Democratic legislation passed is exciting and it makes all of the many, many hours of work and toil totally worth it.
There is something that needs to be addressed immediately, it is a problem that eats away at the very core of our Democracy and American Values. We need some to be able to address the problem of voting machines and unverified voting.
I am astounded, in a bad way, that this is even something I have to write about
This is a NO BRAINER issue.
What issue am I talking about?
Specifically that we have machines that a voter will vote on that will not produce a verifiable handcountable receipt. And even in cases with equipment such as optical scanners, centralized tabulation with no paper backup is vulnrable to manipulation, hacking, and outright fraud.
Why is this even an issue?
Rush Holt's bill (HR 550 in the old congress) needs to be passed at the beginning of the new congress, while the memory of Jennings v. Buchanan is still fresh in the minds of the zeitgeist. As were all the people that had to wait in line for hours and hours for machines that could not produce a verifiable record that your vote was counted.
The time for action is NOW!
Let's take this off of the table, silence the "Eeyores" among us who wring their hands at every hour, saying "we cannot win, the fight is fixed."
Take it off of the table.
Do the right thing.
When this is framed correctly there is absolutely no argument against this.
period.
Over and over, we were told that there was nothing we could do, because we were not in the majority. Well we are now... time to put up, or shut up.
And as for those of us who think that this is a matter for the states, I disagree completely.
You are talking about fighting 50 battles on fields where some of the odds are stacked against us, some in our favor and some of them even, instead of 1 where the odds are most definitely in our favor.
It's been proven over and over again that this vitally important issue CANNOT be left up to the states... For every state that gets it right, there is one like Florida.
Besides, from a sheer political standpoint it's a base satisfier, it also happens to be non-partisan and the right thing to do.
If one were truly cynical they could even see it as a wedge issue, whereas it's something I would look to as showing that Democrats and Republicans can still agree about some things.
IF YOU ARE AGAINST VERIFIED VOTING YOU ARE AGAINST DEMOCRACY.
It is that simple.
Tie it in with other stuff, make voter intimidation illegal, make illegal purges of the voter roles a felony. Do it however you like, but verify that vote and do it with the quickness.
I call upon Moveon.org, TrueMajority, PFAW, Common Cause and all progressive leaning organizations to join me in this fight, as well as all of us in the blogosphere.
-C.