Thanks to RandyMI, who posted it in the Open Thread, I know about this
article in Wired News.
If you read it, you know that Sequoia Voting Systems tried to demonstrate its "infallible" e-voting system to California state Senate staffers, only to have it malfunction by failing to count some of the votes cast. The company insists that such a thing would "never happen" in a real election. Right.
Even worse is the news, in that same article, that the state Senate allowed a bill requiring a paper trail for all e-voting machines to die without coming to a vote. If you're a California voter, read on:
The bill was in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which chose not to act on it this legislative session. I just spoke to a staffer in the Capitol, and she told me that today was the fiscal deadline for action on the bill, and all the committee members have already gone back to their districts. So it's dead, and will have to be re-introduced in January.
There's nothing we can do to get the bill passed, but we can let our representatives know, especially if they're on that committee (as mine is), that we're not happy about them failing to take action.
Here are the names of the Senate Appropriations Committee Members:
Alpert (Chair)
Battin (Vice-Chair)
Aanestad
Ashburn
Bowen
Burton
Escutia
Johnson
Karnette
Machado
Murray
Poochigian
Speier
If you're not sure who your state Senator is, enter your zip code here to find their name and contact info.
Even if your Senator is not on the list above, we should let all our representatives know that we are paying attention to this issue, and will not let it go quietly away.