Kucinich To Pelosi - UPHOLD THE INTEGRITY OF OUR ELECTIONS - OPPOSE HOLT BILL

[kpete]

Please circulate the below letter far and wide to all your members (and other organizations) to ask their Representative to sign the letter. If you get any feedback from an office, please let me know so I can follow up.

Auke

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Auke Mahar-Piersma
Legislative Director
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
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Speaker Pelosi:

We have been made aware of a growing concern with H.R. 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.

Many constituencies important to the Democratic Caucus, including but not limited to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, VotersUnite.Org, and Election Defense Alliance, have expressed frustration with our offices about the process and current legislative text of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.

These constituencies represent a broad range of interests that reflect many of the core values of our party. H.R. 811 now finds opposition from organizations focused on upholding the integrity of our elections and local and states governments. For these constituencies, H.R. 811 falls short of its intended goals to ensure votes are cast and counted as intended by the voters.

Below are representative examples of the negative feedback we are receiving.

VotersUnite.Org statement by founder Ellen Theisen

After more than three years of supporting election reform bills introduced by Representative Rush Holt, I am saddened to see the many severe flaws in the version of HR 811 as it was passed out of committee last month." June 11, 2007

National Association of Counties letter to Congress

County officials welcome federal lawmakers' interest in strengthening the integrity and accessibility of our most basic democratic institution. We look forward to working with you to address the myriad challenges facing county officials in this environment of unprecedented change in election technology rather than exacerbating these challenges by enacting legislation such as H.R. 811. March 14, 2007

Before this bill is scheduled for a vote before the House of Representatives we urge you to ensure the legislative process addresses these very valid concerns and a substitute is developed that has broad, vocal support.

Sincerely,

Member of Congress

[Land Shark]

1. Kucinich gets a medal for raising this issue (and there's more to say later) nt

[helderheid]

2. 4th rec

[LWolf]

3. Upholding the integrity of our elections is off the table. n/t

[Land Shark]

4. Interesting what's on and off the table? We have "free" debate about what's "on" the table only!

And that's not really free.

Same with HR 811, false claims are made about what is "realistic' or "on the table" when, in the final analysis, HR 811 means secret vote counts of the CONGRESS's OWN RE-ELECTION counts. This huge conflict of interest ought to humble them to making bold claims about what is "tenable" in congress in terms of transparency, since secrecy is the opposite of transparency.

[emlev]

5. Call your Rep! Here are toll-free numbers for Congress:

Call your Rep and ask her/him to sign onto this letter!

1 (800) 828 - 0498

1 (800) 459 - 1887

1 (800) 614 - 2803

1 (866) 340 - 9281

1 (866) 338 - 1015

1 (866) 220 - 0044

1 (877) 851 - 6437

ANY ONE of these will connect you to the Capitol Hill switchboard which, in turn, will transfer you to anyone's office in the House and/or Senate. Just for the asking! TOLL FREE!
(Thanks to CaliMary for these #s)

[Land Shark]

6. Important point: why so many citizen voices excluded from this bill

it's always been presented as a fait accompli or as something impossible to amend. WHAT? That's not exactly democracy.