Randi said the most likely reason...

[OKthatsIT]

was the Dem Senators were in the process of making deals with Reps.

I'm sure they dont look forward to 2yrs of filibustering, but hey, it will be all over in 2 yrs...that is, if the Reps allow filibustering at all.

We have Gonzolas and 2 yrs of the Senate filibustering. I dont know, I dont think anything is going to change nationally unless there's a draft.

However, one bright light has prevailed...my old hometurf town, Indianapolis IN is taking this seriously. The BOE in Marion County...thats pretty much most of Indy, has begun planning to install a paper trail voting system. I was pleasantly surprised by reading this in their local paper.

[anitar1]

1. That Is Good News

and I do think that the draft is going to put a whole new slant on the present situation. there are just too many evil things being done by dimson's administration. I have a couple of Repug friends who are awakening, actually they voted for Kerry. But they are really beginning to see the true picture now.They have grandchildren who are eligible for the draft. So do I. My grandson says he will not go, he would rather go to jail.

[Niche]

2. Okthats IT - That's such GREAT NEWS! Paper ballots!

[progressiveandproud]

3. Politically astute.

Don't underestimate the extent of under-the-radar deal-making, IMHO. There is always more than meets the eye.

[corbett]

16. Hear! Hear!

That applies to Kerry's chess game and Randi's analysis. It ain't over yet!

[wiggs]

4. I hope they horsetraded for something good! nt

[Bill Bored]

5. Tell them the trail don't mean squat

unless they randomly count some percentage of the paper ballots to see if the machines are correct.

[MarkusQ]

6. How about counting all of them.

Every time. And posting the hand count results for all the world to see. And force a recount if they differ by more than a fraction of a percent.

So what if it takes months? Just do it. That way, any machine fraud comes out eventually. That makes it much harder for them.

--MarkusQ

[Bill Bored]

9. MarkusQ. You're my favorite Martian, uh, I mean Republican!

Markus,

Not a bad idea to count them all, but then the machines will only be used to expedite the process and I guess discourage tampering with the paper? I don't object to counting them all by hand, but I suspect our officials will. Probably based on cost alone. But what the heck, go for it!

In NY, we are asking for 5%. There are bills now that say 2% and 3% which have to reconciled. We are also asking for a citizens' oversight committee, or some such thing, comprised of people without ties to any of the machine vendors. I think they will actually be involved in purchasing decisions. We still vote with 99% lever machines here.

All the above laws are at the state level, but if we do this in every state, we'll be in much better shape than we are now.

My biggest fear is that there will be half-assed bill in Congress to create the paper trail without requiring any auditing and it will be another placebo like the Provisional Ballot. Let's fight to get them to do it right!

Start here:
<http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?list=type&type=43>

and don't forget the states!

[kath]

7. Abso-tutely! There must be random audits of some precincts.

Just a "paper trail" is not enough

[Darkhawk32]

11. Like the 3% random audits in Ohio??

No thanks, but I think you're on the right track.

[Bill Bored]

12. They were NOT Randon. n/t

[zalinda]

8. Actually, Randi may have

come up with a good solution. Only vote for Pres/vice, rep, and senator on Nov 2, with a pen and paper....other votes, wait for another day... makes sense. Send out voter sheet with removable address sticker...take sheet to polling place.....poll worker looks at label......checks book...removes label and places in book.....voter signs poll book....takes voter sheet....fills it out.....drops in box. Simple. If voter doesn't get form, within a week before election, they go down and get one. All records are checked, and less work for everyone. At the end of the day, only 4 or less races to keep track of.

zalinda

[Bill Bored]

10. Zalinda, Welcome to DU! n/t

[SnoopDog]

13. Remember...It is who *counts* the votes...

We will need a public counting of the ballots to insure integrity.

And Welcome!

[newyawker99]

14. Hi zalinda!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[sandnsea]

15. Mail-in

Why doesn't she just call it what it is, mail-in. In Oregon we can mail our optiscan ballot or drop it off. Otherwise it's exactly what Randi described. We've got two weeks to mail or drop ballots, two weeks to get ballots or fix registration problems. You mark the ballot, so there's no question of paper trails. Also much cheaper than all these machines. I also agree federal elections should be held separately with nothing else on the ballot. We also need voter registration receipts so people can take those to the election office if there's a problem too.

[cry baby]

18. And that way, no one could have hot issues on the same ballot,

like the gay marriage thing.

[wiggs]

17. Wish list

Wish list of deals I hope the democrats in congress traded for:

-Full judiciary hearings of Ohio elections (not just democrats this time) with subpoena power. Blackwell goes down.

-No effort to eliminate fillibuster

-Voting reform bill comes to floor before 2006

Others?

These are worth much more that the temporary media exposure on 1/6, IMO.