Prevent Election Fiascoes in Tennessee - Enact Paper Ballot Law NOW

Nov 3, 2006. Shelby County. Missing memory cards. These cards are the equivalent of ballot boxes. Several electronic voting cards, used to cast ballots on Diebold touch screens, are missing from a polling place in Memphis, according to the Tennessee Republican Party. http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5115699,00.html

Nov 2, 2006 Sullivan County. Not enough memory in machine. The control device (Judges Booth Controller - JBC) for Hart InterCivic eSlate voting machines shut down after 10,000 ballots were cast in early voting. The JBC would hold no more ballots in its memory. http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=6701

Secretary of State Hargett must do his professional best to implement Tennessee's paper ballot law in time for the 2010 election. Save Tennessee from the "perfect storm" that is brewing. Avoid the kind of fiasco that happened in Carteret County, North Carolina in November 2004, where 4,438 votes were lost -- giving North Carolina "the worse election problem in the country," according to David L. Dill of Stanford University.

Watch this video, learn to what Carteret County, North Carolina voters had to say about losing their votes on a paperless machine in the November, 2004 election. This could very well be Tennessee voters in 2010:



Several states have enacted paper ballot laws successfully. North Carolina saw increased transparency and lower residual vote rates. Florida's Governor Charlie Crist took the bold step to restore integrity to Florida's elections by swiftly banning paperless voting and implementing paper ballot optical scan systems across the state, increasing confidence in the system and lowering costs to administer elections. New Mexico banned paperless voting and also saw their undervote rate decrease.

Despite the citizens' overwhelming support of Tennessee's paper ballot law, the law has not been implemented. There is funding and time to enact the law. $37.1 million in HAVA money is still available according to Tennessee's Office of Legislative Budget Analysis. Of this amount, only $25 million will be needed to purchase the necessary equipment. Despite the fact that Tennessee needs to move now to get ready for the 2010 elections, nothing has been done. Enough is enough.

Tennessee voters should tell Secretary of State Hargett to implement the paper ballot law in time for the 2010 elections. Tell him that you want an election system free from inaccuracy, malfunction and fraud. Contact Secretary of State Hargett by email at tre.hargett@tn.gov or better yet, call the SOS office at (615) 741-2819


Thanks go to VotersUnite who provides a national database of election incidents.