Urge Tennessee Lawmakers: Follow Through on Verified Voting in Tennessee!

September 10, 2010 Subject: Dear Legislators and Governor Bredesen, I write to respectfully urge you to oppose legislation to weaken or delay implementation of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act. Tennessee has the funds to purchase paper ballot scanners and accessible ballot marking devices for use in the 2010 elections. There is no good reason for delay. You need look no further than our neighboring state of Virginia to remind yourself of how important it is to follow through on the promise of the Voter Confidence Act. Just last month in Fairfax County, Virginia, a county Board of Supervisors election was conducted on paperless electronic machines, and in one precinct, there were discrepancies of hundreds of votes that still remain unexplained. A county election official was left to say to the Virginia press: "Nothing like this has ever happened before. We don't know if the machines malfunctioned or if we did something wrong." That is not a position Tennessee should find itself in come 2010, with no way to check the accuracy of electronic voting systems. "Paper trail" printers are not a solution: since 2006, no states have refitted electronic machines with the kind of cash-register receipt printers that are available for most of our voting machines. The paper is flimsy, the printers can jam, and have lost votes. Too many voters do not check the paper record. In contrast, paper ballots receive the voters' focused attention, and offer a durable record of voter intent. As Tennesseans look to other states, we see action being taken to verify the accuracy of elections. Almost 60% of America's voters cast their votes by marking paper ballots. From Alabama to California, from Massachusetts to Oklahoma, paper ballot voting systems have proven their reliability. Optically or digitally scanned paper ballots are so popular across the nation because they are a cost-effective, reliable voting system that reinforces voter confidence. I know you have been hearing about the cost of paper ballots driving up the cost of elections; the evidence suggests otherwise. Studies done by government officials, such as the Supervisor of Elections of Miami-Dade County, Florida; as well as studies done by citizens in Florida, North Carolina, and Maryland have all shown that paper ballot systems - with a typical cost of approximately 25 cents a ballot - are less expensive than electronic voting machines to maintain and operate. Tennessee has over $37 million in federal HAVA funds that may be used to purchase optical scan/ballot-marker systems, so the Voter Confidence Act requires no new expenditures of state funds. Paper ballots reduce long lines because only one scanning machine is needed in each polling place; many voters can mark their paper ballots at once. If equipment goes down, the ballots can be deposited in a secure container and voting can continue. Hand-counted audits are no less important to election integrity than paper ballots, a statement backed by computer scientists from government laboratories such as Lawrence Livermore, from leading universities such as Rice, the University of Iowa, and Stanford, and from private sector firms that lead the field of computer security. 22 states and the District of Columbia conducted random hand audits of the 2008 elections, and more will do so in 2010 -- including Tennessee if you do not weaken our law. Tennessee should be a leader, not a laggard, in protecting elections. Please ensure that our state follows through on the wise and important commitments of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act. We will add your signature from the information you provide.		First Name* Last Name* Email* Street* Street 2 City* State/Province* Select a state Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware D.C. Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Armed Forces (the) Americas Armed Forces Europe Armed Forces Pacific Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Newfoundland New Brunswick Nova Scotia Northwest Territories Nunavut Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Territory Other Zip/Postal Code* Send an Email