I got this email from MoveOn today about an anti-BBV/pro-paper petition

[gristy]

Dear MoveOn member,

We all remember the election of 2000. Because of faulty and mismanaged election systems, George W. Bush won Florida's electoral votes and the presidency. And now look at the mess we're in.

People demanded improvements, and now states are spending millions to buy new voting machines. So far, so good. But many key states, including Florida, Ohio and other battlegrounds, are installing "black box" voting machines -- computer voting terminals that don't produce a paper ballot.

Without a paper ballot, there's no way to know if our votes are counted correctly. Also, computers are vulnerable to malfunction -- how often does yours freeze up?

It's time to take action to protect our votes. Join our call for Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, at:

http://www.moveon.org/protectourvotes

If ATMs and gas pumps can print receipts, then voting terminals can print paper ballots. Every voter should be able to make sure that his or her vote will count as it was cast, by verifying a paper ballot that can be audited and re-counted. And wherever electronic voting terminals are used, backup paper ballots should also be available, so no voters will be turned away from the polling place if the terminals aren't working.

Over the past few weeks, MoveOn members have been calling legislators and officials in many states to demand Voter-Verified Paper Ballots. And along with other citizen's groups, large and small, we have won important victories.

A month ago, our side won its biggest victory yet. California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified 14,000 black box voting terminals made by Diebold Inc., and said that this November, every California voter will be able to vote on a paper ballot.

Every voter in every state should have the same right -- to verify that his or her vote was recorded correctly, with full confidence that it will be counted correctly. We shouldn't have to hand our elections over to manufacturers like Diebold and blindly trust them with the results.

This is not about partisan politics. It's about the foundation of our democracy: our votes. There's no reason Americans should have anything less than the most accessible, secure and reliable voting system possible.

Join our campaign by clicking this link:

www.moveon.org/protectourvotes/

Thank you, for everything you do.

Sincerely,
--Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org Team
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004

P.S.: See our website for helpful background information on this issue.

[BiggJawn]

1. I got that, too. unfortunately, in Indiana,

They only count the absentee ballots IF it could affect the outcome.

Say you have a 12,000 vote spread between 2 candidates, and 4,000 absentee ballots in the warehouse. No way those ballots would affect the outcome, so they don't even bother counting them. supposedly they save precious tax dollars that way.

[RedEagle]

3. Absentee or provisional?

I would think they would have to count absentee.

Provisional might be another matter.

Check state law. Is this by law or by convenience?

[BiggJawn]

4. Not sure. Hard to find definitive info.

But, being a life-long Hoosier,I can tell you that it sounds almost plausible....

[rucky]

2. That's scary

i wonder how many people will vote absentee, thinking they have a better chance of getting their vote counted that way (as opposed to BBV) - only to have it not counted at all.

I don't have to worry about it in Oregon (we're 100% absentee - no polls). But I have no idea how many other states do it like Indiana