BBV: new strategy re contacting Congress.

[Eric J in MN]

Black Box Voting: new strategy re emails, faxes, and calls to Congress.

Instead of sounding like we're afraid of what bad companies will do without voter-verified-paper ballots, we can stress the GOOD which Avante can do with its Voter-Trakker machines.

Most Congressmen didn't get where they are by being anti-corporate.

We could say something like:

Please pass HR 2239, which will help a fine product, Vote-Trakker, by the Avante International Technology corporation, which lets voters review paper ballots.


http://www.aitechnology.com/votetrakker2/

[MasonJar]

1. Good point

I have already phoned my Senators and all Ky.'s reps; got all but three (on recorder of course.) I gave them my e-mail and told them to let me know their position. I was positive, indicating that there was certainly no reason that they should oppose HR2239, and so I was sure they would not. I ended by telling them that I would be writing the Courier Journal with my findings.

[RedEagle]

2. Not just one company

Yes, by all means let congress know there are viable options out there. In fact, ask them to hold a showing of the voter-verified paper ballot machines. Maybe Rush Holt could put one together.

We cannot endorse just one maker, though, although I doubt that was your intent. A monopolistic structure serves no one.

Accupoll, Vogue, Avante, OVC, and maybe Populex. I tend to cringe about Populex because of who is on the BOD, but if their product actually prints the voter's choices in addtion to the bar code, then we have to consider their product as potentially fulfilling our mandate for voter-verified paper ballots.

[Eloriel]

3. Red Eagle

You know yourself that Populex bar code would ALSO have to be checked by the voter, and on independenty purchased bar code readers. This ads unnecessary complexity (and time!). That plus "who's on the board" (Frank Carlucci) makes Populex totally unacceptable IMO.

Eloriel

[RedEagle]

4. Lots of the paper systems....

...also employ bar code. It's not a perfect solution but you have to give the local officials something besides a hand count option.

I would prefer the hand count. But when you try to sell a v-vpb system to the offcials.....

In ALL cases, the vote should be printed on the ballot too. NEVER just a code by itself. I can come up with a couple ways to rig the bar code reader, so I'm not ignoring that. It just gets harder to rig the system with the evidence printed right there.

I think what is needed in bar code, which BBV activists call for, is to have the bar code reader completely unrelated to the voting machine company.

But nothing, nothing, can take the place of hand counting.

What would help mitigate all of this, is accurate, independent exit polling...

....or a general rule that if a candidate is an unexpected winner, a hand count had probably better be happening.

[SharonAnn]

6. Alpha characters can be read optically. There's even an old

font, called OCR-A and its derivatives, that was developed just for this purpose,

It, or something like it, could be used to print a Voter-Verifiable Ballot and it could also be machine counted.

There's no need for bar code, that was developed for a different purpose and just because companies have lots of bar code reader technology that they can sell doesn'tmean that it's the only thing we can use.

Remember the objective, Voter Verifiable Ballot.

[whatelseisnew]

7. That sounds like a billion dollar idea

Makes the most sense

[Eric J in MN]

5. yes, listing more good companies is better still (nt)

nt