Ulster County Legislator Gary Bischoff, who chairs the Efficiency, Reform and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, asserts:
Our democracy depends on citizens to express their will and choices in a repeatable, fair and reliable election.
Pokey Anderson of Houston’s radio news show, The Monitor, writes to the Court:
While there has always been manipulation in elections, the difference between stealing in a hand-counted paper ballot election and an electronic election is the difference between successfully robbing a convenience store and successfully robbing Fort Knox.
She goes on to quote others, starting with former National Security Agency code-breaker, Michael Wertheimer:
If you believe, as I do, that voting is one of our critical infrastructures, then you have to defend it like you do your power grid, your water supply.
And computer security professional Dr. David Dill:
Think about it rationally. What are the assets being protected? If we're talking presidential elections or control of Congress, there aren't a lot of assets in this world in monetary terms that are worth more than that. You're talking about the whole US economy.
And another computer security professional, Bruce O’Dell:
The technology to invisibly compromise voting systems is mature and the rewards are essentially limitless. It’s professionally irresponsible to not presume vulnerable extreme-high-value systems are already actively being exploited.
Peacemakers of NY Schoharie County supports the proposition that
Federal election ballots could be hand counted in 2008 (and Peacemakers) commits to participating in the hand counting of ballots.
Wayne Stinson promises, “We will actively promote other citizens’ engagement in the process.”
Parallel Elections use a hand-counted paper ballot system, and are run outside of an official polling site. PE organizer and national speaker, Judy Alter, then analyzes the difference between official results and voter reports of how they voted. She writes:
We will continue to hold parallel elections and train others to do the same so that we can demonstrate the [computerized] assault on our democracy.
Karen Charman of the Ulster County Shandaken Democrat Club recognizes the precarious position in which computerized voting systems puts us:
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