Minneapolis Star Tribune finally publishes a letter on Election Reform

[Eric J in MN]

I've sent the Star Tribune lots of letters on Election Reform, and they never printed any of those, but today they printed one by someone else:


NETLETS (internet only)
http://www.startribune.com/stories/563/5086472.html

Electoral reforms

Regarding your Nov. 10 article "For some, the fat lady hasn't sung yet": Even if you're not a "conspiracy theorist," one thing we can all agree on is the need for a paper trail from electronic voting machines. Without it, how could we possibly conduct an honest recount in a close election?

And while we're at it, let's encourage our representatives to look at a whole range of electoral reforms, from abandoning the obsolete Electoral College to setting nonpartisan standards for redistricting. Every vote must be counted -- red state or blue, urban core or small town, black or white. Nothing less is acceptable.

Pamela J. Snopl, Minneapolis.

[mzmolly]

1. Glad to see it.

:hi:

[bvar22]

2. REAL election Reform....

is an issue that should cross Party boundaries. The ONLY people that are against reform are the INCUMBENTS from both political parties (a few exceptions on Dem side).

I want a National Election Holiday AND Voter Verified Paper Ballot with Instant Run Off and Publically financed campaigns.

....and heavyweight legal accountability for information contained in campaign commercials broadcast by 527's.

[Eric J in MN]

3. Most Senators did zilch for election-reform after passing HAVA.

These are the only Senators to co-sponsor Bob Graham's bill for a voter-verified paper ballot, "The Voter Confidence Act," S.1980:

Sen Dayton, Mark - 5/18/2004
Sen Hollings, Ernest F. - 4/1/2004
Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. - 3/25/2004
Sen Nelson, Bill - 2/23/2004
Sen Schumer, Charles E. - 2/23/2004
Sen Wyden, Ron - 9/7/2004

[bvar22]

4. The SHORT list is depressing.

With ALL the advance publicity on this issue, you would think more Dems would have come onboard. I know DU members have been writing and calling our congress critters for over 2 years (since 2002 Georgia)


BUT,,,,, Gotta love our guy!!!!

I am well pleased by Mark Dayton. He is doing a FANTASTIC job representing us. Too bad we must wait till 2008 to be rid of RubberStamp .

[cynthia]

5. it's about time!

I have been writing to them almost daily. I believe we need to keep up the pressure to make the media talk about this. BE the media.

I laughed at Colin Powell's and Shrub's comments about the election in Ukraine!!!! So we won't tolerate anything but integrity in elections??? Yeah, right!

[Carolab]

6. Nice try BUT

People keep missing the point.

"Paper trails" are NOT the solution, when we continue to DIGITIZE the tally of our votes. Our studies of the election fraud on this forum and elsewhere (Bev Harris, Chuck Herrin) have shown that the fraud was committed at the electronic level--hacking of the CENTRAL TABULATORS.

When votes are skewed enough to "win" but not enough to trigger a recount, paper trails are USELESS. The "fix" is in then, and there is little or nothing we can do about it.

We need a system that ASSURES security in the ACTUAL COUNTING of the votes, not merely a system whereby we can each prove HOW we voted, since we may not get the chance.

[Eric J in MN]

7. The question is how many of out optical-scan ballots are

hand-counted.