Jan 6 Statement by Harry Reid (D-NV) Senate Dem Leader

[marions ghost]

I hope this hasnt already been posted....does anyone have any opinions about Harry Reid's official statement here? What about Nevada's paper trail? Did it really work and can it be used as an example?

http://reid.senate.gov/record2.cfm?id=230456

Reid Statement On Voter Rights
Thursday, January 6, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid released the following statement:

“Today, our brave men and women of the armed forces are working to bring the right to free and fair elections to Iraq. Their sacrifice absolutely demands that we work to ensure our own elections are fair. That is what today’s debate is about and I welcome it."

“History has shown us that the right to vote demands constant vigilance and attention. The right to vote is secured by our Constitution, but history has shown that, at times, Constitutional protection was not enough. Widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans and other citizens lead to the landmark enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and amendments in1970, 1975 and 1982. In each of these instances, we needed tough new laws and took action. And more recently, the abuses in Florida during the 2000 election demonstrated the need for additional reform and in response we passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.

“While the literacy tests and poll taxes of the past are gone, a more insidious form of disenfranchisement continues to taint our electoral system. In this past election in my home state of Nevada, phone calls were made to heavily African American parts of Las Vegas to trick those voters into not voting. Those calls, which we were unable to trace, told voters that Election Day was November 3rd, not November 2nd. Our registration process in Nevada was also tainted by the proven destruction of Democratic voter registration forms. That fraud is still under investigation. And in some of my earliest elections in Nevada, private individuals dressed in uniforms meant to resemble federal immigration officers were posted near polls to intimidate minority voters.

“In this past election in Ohio, heavily minority precincts had disproportionately long lines because there weren’t enough voting machines in those precincts. Widespread and blanket challenges to Ohio voters was a thinly veiled effort to suppress the vote. And legal challenges to restrict provisional voting - a provision of HAVA that was meant to cure the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in Florida in the 2000 Election - undermined congressional intent and the right to vote.

“These problems damage our system, deny our citizen equal protection and deny the right to vote. Rooting out this corruption requires not only strong laws, but strong hearts. It relies upon the integrity of our election officials in every state and each one of us to speak up when abuses occur. It is my hope that the debate today in the Senate will once again lead to action to cure some of the most glaring defects of the 2004 election.

“One of the most significant problems in Ohio and in many other states was an inability to ensure the integrity of electronic voting machines. We can easily find national solutions to this challenge. I know this because we did it in Nevada. In the 2004 election, Nevadans voted on electronic machines with a paper trail. The machine was simple and easy to use. After a voter cast his or her vote, a paper print-out was registered for the voter to see and was then later collected when the vote was counted. Nevada was the only state in the nation that provided a paper trail.

“The use of these machines helped ensure integrity of the election in Nevada and gave voters peace of mind that votes cast were counted. Last year, my colleague from Nevada Senator Ensign and I introduced a measure to require paper trails for electronic voting machines nationwide.

“We will reintroduce our bipartisan Voting Integrity and Verification Act (VIVA) in the 109th Congress. I hope that as we consider the 2004 election today, we look forward to enacting commonsense measures like VIVA so that we continue to improve the integrity of our elections.

“With HAVA we made significant reforms and the lessons we learned from the 2004 election have provided us with an opportunity to build on that success. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join with me in that effort.”

[Cocoa]

1. does anyone know the details of VIVA?

aside from being named after a paper towel, does anyone know what it's about?

[Darkhawk32]

2. Reid is from Nevada... It's VIVA LAS VEGAS!!! n/t

[marions ghost]

5. Two links explaining VIVA

http://www.theorator.com/bills108/s2437.html

http://ensign.senate.gov/issleg/issues/voting_and_election_reform.htm

[marions ghost]

7. Is Sen. John Ensign still in office? He did a lot of work....

from the link: Senator Ensign recognizes that very few things are as sacred to the integrity of our Constitution and our democracy as the right to vote and the guarantee that each vote will count.

During a recount of his 1998 United States Senate race, the second count was identical to the first. That is because there was nothing to recount—the computer simply spit out the exact same tally.

Senator Ensign remained concerned that Clark County voters had no assurance that their votes had been accurately counted. Innocent computer malfunctions or intentional tampering could have altered their votes without anyone ever knowing.

That is why Senator Ensign has led the effort to require a voter verification paper trail. His amendment in the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) called for voter verification paper trails. Unfortunately, the language in HAVA did not resolve this issue, and many states do not believe the paper trail is mandatory.

Senator Ensign has introduced legislation to address this issue once and for all. The Voting Integrity and Verification Act would create a new level of integrity at the ballot box by requiring a paper printout of votes cast at electronic voting machines. A voter-verified paper trail would allow voters to review a physical printout of their ballot and correct any errors before leaving the voting booth. This printout would be preserved for use in any recounts.

With the 2004 primary election, Nevada became the first state to certify voter-verified paper audit trail printers to be used with touch-screen voting machines.

Press Releases: September 14, 2004 ENSIGN APPLAUDS NEVADA’S ‘A+’ ON VOTER READINESS
July 15, 2004 ENSIGN, REID URGE COLLEAGUES TO SUPPORT BALLOT INTEGRITY LEGISLATION
May 18, 2004 ENSIGN INTRODUCES VOTING INTEGRITY BILL, REQUIRING PAPER PRINTOUT OF BALLOT
December 10, 2003 ENSIGN TOUTS PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT
October 16, 2002 ENSIGN AMENDMENT RESTORES CONFIDENCE IN ELECTION PROCESS
Speeches: May 18, 2004 INTRODUCTION OF THE VOTING INTEGRITY AND VERIFICATION ACT

[StephanieMarie]

3. I just copied this to my newspaper editor

a small attempt to "educate" a very ignorant southerner.

[Raster]

4. Senator Reid: The overhaul of America's voting apparatus is THE

number one issue facing the country. That is our--the citizens of the United States--line in the sand. You folks in Congress have had four years to fix an obviously broken system, and it appears you have done nothing. What Congress better hear and understand is that it isn't just Democrats that are pissed off, it's EVERYONE. Anyone in Congress who works against election reform will have a target on their forehead. Fix the election system or loose your cushy-ass jobs. It's that simple. No more bullshit. The will of the people was OBVIOUSLY subverted in (s)election 2004, and unfortunately it appears that both sides in Congress aided and abetted election fraud.

[GOPBasher]

6. Yes! That's awesome!

[kcass1954]

8. In PDA's Voting Rights Kit on page 2,

there is a petition which can be signed and sent to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in support of his Voting Rights Amendment (H.J. Res. 28).
The link is http://www.pdamerica.org/tools/issues/VRA-Kit-draft2.pdf.

Hopefully someone will do something similar for the Senate version of this Amendment.

[marions ghost]

10. thanks kcass--this PDF is really an excellent compilation

of arguments for a voting rights amendment. Have you ever posted it as a separate topic here? By your post are u suggesting this should be argued along with HAVA--VIVA legislation? --since H-V leaves it all still under state control.

I'm looking for all the different approaches to changes that are out there, not really advocating any. Just seeing what the thinking is re. legislation at this point... So thanks for post--I will use as a reference on the argument for an amendment.

I thought Harry Reid's statement was enlightening, but I think you are saying his proposals don't go far enough.

[icehenge]

9. Reid announced that he would introduce an election reform bill

"Reid announced that he would introduce an election reform bill in a few days.

Call Reid's office. Thank him for what he did today. Ask him to think big and write the bill he wants, not the bill he thinks the Republicans will accept.

JoMama"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=273909#274145


Reid Contact infomation: (Send him a nice note!)


Carson City
600 East Williams Street, #302
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone]

Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone]

Reno
Bruce R. Thompson Courthouse and Federal Building
400 South Virginia Street, Suite 902
Reno, NV 89501
Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone]

Rural Nevada Mobile Office
Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone]
Schedule and Information

Washington
528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: [phone] / Fax: [phone]
Toll Free for Nevadans: 1-866-SEN-REID (736-7343) -Restricted to calls originating from area codes 775 and 702-


---
Email contact form (Calling or faxing is prefered)
http://reid.senate.gov/email_form.cfm

[Beth in VT]

11. He needs to understand that providing a paper trail isn't the final answer

We need paper ballots hand counted.

[ClintCooper2003]

12. Excellent speech.

[Stevepol]

13. A Paper trail, yes, but the key point is AUDITING.

The paper makes auditing "possible," but it won't happen unless, as in CA I believe (according to an interview of Kevin Shelly I saw), every election is audited. Ideally, every precinct should be audited; in other words, the real and final count should be made by hand counts of paper ballots. But you could also use a percentage of the precincts if those precincts were truly chosen randomly by bi-partisan groups in a way that would make it impossible for folks to cheat. Auditing is like a form of exit polling and cd be extremely accurate if conducted in a scientific and bi-partisan way.