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Dear friends,I am asking you to take action on this bill, HB 3894, in the Texas House of Representatives, because it is critical that we keep this bill in the spotlight. To read the bill and more about it go here: http://voterescue.org/. You can download a pdf copy of the bill at http://www.myimagehosting.com/pic.php?u=778Ke5d2&i=51768.
BACKGROUND
State Representative Lon Burnam, District 90, Tarrant County, introduced HB 3894 on the last day to introduce bills a week ago. The bill was sponsored by VoteRescue.org. Essentially, the bill provides that all Texas elections will be conducted by hand counted paper ballots. This will remove the vulnerability of our election system to wholesale election fraud that has no possibility of being discovered, because voting machines will not be used.
As a person who has done extensive research on voting methods I wholeheartedly support this bill.
The problem is that the Tarrant County Democratic County Chair, Art Brender, a close friend of Burnam's, has lobbied hard for a bill that would keep these voting machines in service and give counties discretion to buy add-on printers that would allegedly provide a voter-verified paper trail, and Burnam has also introduced a bill that would satisfy Brender. The two bills are mutually exclusive. There is good reason for concern that Burnam may abandon HB 3894 in favor of pushing Brender's bill.
Voting machine companies do not have printing units that would produce paper images of the ballot the voter casts. They provide a cash register roll of thermal printed output that is supposedly a summary of the voters' choices. But the paper rolls preserve the sequence of votes, so that anyone who has the voter log could conceivably find out how a voter voted. This destroys vote secrecy. Also, the thermal record disappears on the paper over time. Additionally, this involves throwing good money after bad, and further entrenches a system that is extremely vulnerable to wholesale fraud by a single person with the right access to ballot programming code. Finally, the cash register rolls cannot be used effectively for a recount if a recount is needed.
REQUESTED ACTIONS
1. Please write a letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram praising Lon for backing this bill and saying that we'll be behind him as it goes through the process. Send your letter to letters@star-telegram.com. Be sure to include your address and daytime phone number.
2. Contact the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter who writes on this topic, Aman Batheja, and ask him to keep the public informed about this bill. abatheja@star-telegram.com
3. Write a letter to the editor of the Austin American-Statesman expressing support and interest in HB 3894 at letters@statesman.com.
4. Contact your own State Rep and ask him or her to co-sponsor HB 3894. (Find out how here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/.)
5. Show up wherever Lon speaks and ask about this bill publicly.
6. Call or email Lon Burnam with messages of support.
lonburnam@house.state.tx.us
District Office
1067 W. Magnolia
Fort Worth, TX 76104
(817) 924-1997
(817) 924-6788 Fax
Capitol Office
Room CAP GW.8
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
(512) 463-0740
(512) 463-1075 Fax
If you are not a Texas resident and want to help make it easier for your state to get a Hand Counted Paper Ballot bill passed, help us here in Texas by helping to stiffen Representative Burnam's resolve to support this bill. We don't want him to abandon this bill in favor of a voluntary purchase of VVPAT printers for counties.
Thanks for all you do!
Jerry Lobdill
