This is the third or fourth time Moveon has run a bogus poll, setting up the answer by providing incomplete, biased information, this time on a bad bill it looks like they want to support. So they leave out key information, ask members to vote, and if they do, based on the info Moveon provides, it looks like moveon got member support. Shame on Move on.
Here's the letter, with one item I'm leaving out-- the link to the option they seem to want their mailing list to vote yes on. Our opinion here at OpEdNews, by the vast majority of our Voting integrity writers and the many non-profit orgs they lead and represent is that the Holt bill is a bad one, that Holt started off with good intentions and was originally supported by virtually all of the groups that now oppose it. But Holt lost control of the bill and let big corporations like Diebold, Microsoft and ES&S to re-write it. The bill, as written, makes official law some very, very bad things.
So, please, do vote against this bill. Get the message to moveon that this bill sucks. Even Holt admitted on tape that the corporations "won." Shame on Holt for selling out to his constituents (who are also very, very pissed about this.)
Shame on Moveon for only telling a part of the story, one that leans readers towards supporting the bill. Moveon has the ability to enable commenting on their site. WHen they ask people to vote on something they should allow commenters to fill in the blanks that they leave out. But that would indicate a serious intention to play fair.
After seeing moveon play unfair at least two other times, with polls, I have to wonder what's going on with them. I know they are well intentioned. But they are doing things that are downright unethical, dishonest and wrong. Whoever has led these actions should be removed from their operations. I really want to believe that moveon management has handed this over to some person who has betrayed their trust with bad intentions or poor judgment.
Dear MoveOn member,
With time running out to secure our voting machines before the 2008 election, Democratic leaders have negotiated a compromise version of Rep. Rush Holt's paper ballots bill, H.R. 811.
It's not ideal, but we need to decide if we'll support it anyway. On the one hand, the compromise is imperfect. On the other, it's our only chance to make significant national progress before the 2008 election.
Read more about the compromise below, then let us know if you think MoveOn should support the current version of the Holt bill:
The Holt paper ballots bill has met with strong concern from many disability rights groups because electronic voting machines offered many people with disabilities their first opportunity ever to vote independently. Some technology does exist to make paper ballots accessible, but not all disability groups feel it's adequate.
The compromise Holt bill requires all electronic voting machines to include paper trails by 2008, but it allows the use of cash register-style printers that are not great for reliable voter-verification. Some counties will also be allowed to buy new electronic voting machines.
By 2012, the bill would ban these more error-prone paper trails and require durable paper ballots instead. The bill would not ban electronic voting machines altogether, but it would make the durable paper ballots the vote of record and would require manual audits to ensure accurate counts.
The compromise bill is supported by Common Cause, the Brennan Center for Justice, and People for the American Way—some of the leading groups we've worked with for years to secure voting machines. There are other groups who have long opposed the Holt bill because it doesn't ban electronic voting machines.
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