HB574 -FN-L: would have required all machine count jurisdictions to preserve electronic vote data held on the memory cards used in voting machines for the 22 months required by federal law. This would have clarified that e-vote data falls within this requirement for preservation of voting records, which Asst. Attorney General Jim Kennedy has already stated is the case. In other words, many places in NH that allow the vendor to erase vote data from the memory cards are already in violation of federal law but this state law would have made this absolutely clear.
The only bill passed by the NH House was HB285, which sets up a committee to work on election technology - a committee that has no citizen representation, whose members are all appointed, and which has no mandate to even consider voting rights (citizen oversight, checks and balances) but rather to take as a given that elections should be run by technology.
In short, it doesn't take much in NH to maintain the status quo. Just a few strategically placed individuals in the right offices and positions, and the industry interests are protected.
On the other hand, it is a local decision to use voting machines or to hand count, so all we need to do is convince 300+ local officials that they have betrayed our democracy by choosing Diebold over citizen-controlled elections. Small task.
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