It's time we faced reality.... we need a stripped-down bill that deals with 3 to 4 critical items which will most help 2008!

 

If anyone thinks Holt H.R. 811 "as is" will be in effect for 2008 ... quite frankly they are not being politically savvy.

 

Even the Holt people realize, for they expect the date might be moved to 2010. The Feinstein bill makes that a given.  Even if H.R. 811 passes initially with 2008 effective date, it will be changed for Feinstein uses 2010 as effective date and is so complicated it has to be 2010.

 

Further the Feinstein Senate bill is a major disaster and will require long-drawn-out negotiating.  Read the report on this bill at www.VotersUnite.org.  Analyzed and written by Ellen Theisen, with research collaboration of Teresa Hommel, Pokey Andersen and myself, it is an eye-opener and very disturbing! We have subsequently found several additional problems and ramifications which are quite detrimental to our voting. The destruction of states’ and citizens’ rights, the creation in effect of "classes of voters," the power given the EAC and corporations is shocking...and I am not using hyperbole in evaluation.

 

The implications of this bill are far-reaching and in the complete opposite direction of what Voting Integrity and even Democracy are about.  I'd love to know who wrote the bill. It starts out vanilla but if you go thru it carefully, you will find sections that undermine so much of what we value!  Check out last week's interview with Ellen Theisen as we discuss key elements of the Feinstein bill on www.VoiceoftheVoters.org.

 

The Feinstein bill is a real killer and likely to get worse as they try to get the bill through the Senate.

 

Again, we need a bill focused on the vital few areas which will most help 2008.... We can get to other issues afterward.

 

CVI has released our recommendations on the vital few - hopefully others can add/adjust/change BUT we must keep it simple & do-able for 2008!  We include a plan to find out where Congress stands on two important issues, which could initiate commitment to overarching principles, which should be used to evaluate all legislation and election practices. 

 

CVI will be at the Take Back America Conference Mon.-Wed. in DC, stop by and let's discuss your ideas.

 

PRINCIPLES FIRST AS FOUNDATION TO DEVELOP & EVALUATE ALL

LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS, PRACTICES IN OUR ELECTION SYSTEM

"Can we, then, start with clarifying this point of common ground, with underlies
selection of voting mechanics" (Bev Harris)

 

Yes!  This has been the fundamental flaw in both legislation and the arguments pro and con what should be done!

 

We have been approaching from the "WHAT to do" level, drawn into the "fixing" symptoms started by HAVA.

 

NO one wins from this level of focus!

 

Our Nation was founded on a Vision ...overarching ideas...such as people COULD govern themselves, that all power flows from and to them; that citizens have the right to overthrow and replace governments that do not serve our interests; that we are joining together to promote, for each of us and all of us, the idea and practice that we all are created equal ... that we stand for opportunity: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

 

Then the Constitution was written to create principles to support the ideas/beliefs of the Declaration. In turn all legislation etc. is supposed to be within the framework of the Constitution based on the values of the Declaration.

 

Without an overarching framework, we lack a guide to develop and evaluate legislative, regulatory and government processes properly. We then get a mess like HAVA and a further patchwork like the Holt & Feinstein bills.

 

Both have some good features but also some real "poison."  They are also attempting to band-aid symptoms while Democracy is hemorrhaging ... both bills will fail us.

 

We MUST have that framework of overarching principles to both guide and evaluate!

 

One example: OUR government was created on the principle of separate and independent checks and balances (though today those lines have been blurred and in places usurped).

 

CVI's position is that this same principle should serve OUR election system!  I dare any in Congress to say that they oppose a separate, independent, verifiable system of Checks and Balances for OUR election process.

 

Just think, with the above, you could not have DREs (with or without printers) for they cannot meet criteria of separate & independent. It brings into question the entire authority being granted the EAC.

 

There are other core principles, which should frame OUR election system.   I have a few. I'm sure we all do.  I suggest we consider starting with Checks and Balances.

 

I ask for discussion of components of a "stripped-down" bill of those most critical actions (based on foundation of overarching Principles) to help improve the 2008 election.  2008 should and must be our immediate focus.  If we lose that, maybe we won't have a 2010 election.

 

It's time to come together. Yes, we can have differences but can we not agree on core principles and most critical components that are do-able and would better secure 2008?

 

As to Feinstein etc., check out http://www.voiceofthevoters.org/ for interviews including last week's with Ellen Theisen on the dangerous sections of Feinstein ... previous weeks with Steve Freeman, Mark Crispin Miller and Greg Palast, etc. One of my favorites on the REAL ideas and principles on which our Nation was founded (transcript also available) is preeminent historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Professor Gordon S. Wood

 

Check out Ellen Theisen's report on the major and serious sections of Feinstein at www.votersunite.org.

 

Mary Ann Gould

Coalition for Voting Integrity

Voice of the Voters! Radio/Internet