Tomorrow morning, March 29th, is the deadline for contacting the Committee on House Administration about any reservations that citizens may have about HR 811, the new election reform bill crafted by Rep. Rush Holt. Here is something you can do to make your voice heard. Secure, transparent, accurate elections are the foundation of democracy. Are you willing to work a bit for it? Now's your chance. It's all laid out here.

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It looks quite likely that Rep. Holt's 811 (the new incarnation of HR 550) is on the fast track for passage.

Vickie Karp of the Coalition for Visible Ballots and co-author of "Hacked! High Tech Election Theft in America" suggests faxing these members of the Committee on House Administration to voice our reservations and concern.

She included two extremely timely articles - which you can include in your fax, while you're at it- on why recounts and audits don't work: one is the recent revelation that ES&S (the electronic voting machine company) dictated the terms for the audit to the Florida officials investigating the FL-13 missing 18,000 votes of the November election. Read about the leaked memo here: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4321#more-4321

Talk about the fox in the chicken coop!

The second article is about election officials in Cuyahoga County in Ohio who rigged the recount in Ohio in 2004. They have been sentenced to 18 months in prison. If you recall, the 2004 election was decided in Ohio and the fact that more voting 'irregularities' continue to emerge makes it extra important to carefully scrutinize any attempts at election reform. click here

We see where the well-meaning HAVA got us. And it won't be easy or inexpensive to get ourselves out of this mess.

Congress will not listen to the people without a heck of a lot of input from pushy and insistent citizens standing up for fair, accurate, secure and transparent elections. Can you be counted on in this effort? Will your voice be heard? The only thing we know for sure is they can't respond if they don't hear from us.

Write a brief cover letter telling them that you are one of millions of Americans concerned about continued election meltdown. If you don't have time to fax everyone on the list, pick a few. Or even one. If you don't have time to copy and fax both articles, choose one. Write at the top: Why Audits Won't Work (for the Florida piece) or Why Recounts Don't Work (for the Ohio piece). Just pick something and do it. Please.

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UPDATE: Please note: These fax and phone numbers checked by Sheri Myers. Thank you, Sheri!

Democrats:

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, CA-37, Chairwoman

Phone: 202-225-7924; Fax: 202-225-7926

Rep. Robert A. Brady, PA-1st

Phone: 202-225-4731; Fax: 202-225-0088

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, CA-16th

Phone: 202-225-3072; Fax: 202-225-3336

Rep. Mike Capuano, MA-8

Phone: 202-225-5111; Fax: 202-225-9322

Rep. Charles Gonzales, TX-20

Phone: 202-225-3236; Fax: 202-225-1915

Republicans:

Rep. Vernon Ehlers, MI-3 Ranking Member

Phone: 202-225-3831; Fax: 202-225-5144

Rep. Dan Lungren, CA-3

Phone: 202-225-5716; Fax: 202-226-1298

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, CA-22

Phone: 202-225-2915; Fax: 202-225-2908

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No one said that preserving our democracy was easy. This is something that you can do and be happy afterwards that you did.

Thank you.

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.