Sick of faulty voting machines?

Forward this e-mail | Subscribe to PFAW Action Alerts PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY November 21, 2006 At the very top of our aggressive election reform agenda for 2007 is resolving problems with electronic voting machines. Today, People For the American Way Foundation and key allies filed a lawsuit in Florida demanding a revote in the 13th Congressional District, where upwards of 18,000 voters who turned out to cast a ballot did not have their vote count in that congressional race. While the Florida incident is one of this year's more egregious examples of disenfranchisement due to electronic voting machines, it is certainly not the only place where it happened. Please take action today urging the new Congress to address election reform, including problems with electronic voting machines, as part of their 100-hour plan. Tell Congress to make Election Reform a top priority. In the first 100 hours of the new Congress, the new Democratic House majority will be tackling many of the issues they were sent to Washington to fix, including ethics and corruption, the minimum wage, prescription drugs, implementation of the 9/11 Commission suggestions and stem cell research. Let’s make sure ELECTION REFORM is at the top of their agenda as well! When it comes to fair elections, we are not there yet. Despite encouraging results on Election Day, the fact remains that tens of thousands of eligible voters were disenfranchised this year -- possibly making the difference in a few key races, but undoubtedly presenting us with an immediate problem to solve. Together, we need to send the message to Congress that before we can move our democracy forward, we need to make sure we have a democracy in the first place. Help make election reform part of the new Congress’ “100-hour plan.” Please click here to send a message to the new Congress now. Petition House leaders to address election reform legislation in their first 100 hours. And let them know that real comprehensive election reform must, at minimum, take on: • problems with electronic voting machines, • deceptive practices and voter intimidation, and • policies that disenfranchise eligible voters like restrictive voter ID requirements and barriers to voter registration. Our goal is to hand-deliver stacks of petitions to the new Democratic Leadership before session starts and show them, in black and white, that there is a real groundswell around election reform, and Americans demand fair elections. PFAW's proactive 2007 agenda for expanding democracy and protecting the right to vote includes the following objectives, on the federal and state levels. Resolve problems with electronic voting machines. Recurring machine errors, inadequate poll worker training and serious security flaws with both the machines and their vote-tabulating software are enormous threats to the integrity of American elections. These problems must be addressed, not only to restore voter confidence, but to protect the fundamental right of every voter to have his or her vote accurately counted. Unaccountable, unverifiable, unauditable voting must end. Stop deceptive practices and voter intimidation by passing federal and state legislation to prohibit and punish dirty tricks, deliberate misinformation, and other misleading measures that keep people away from the ballot box (like the misleading robo-calls you may have seen news reports about). Repeal or overturn restrictive voter ID requirements that disenfranchise eligible voters without improving the integrity of elections. Eliminate restrictions on voter registration that disenfranchise entire communities (like burdensome proof of citizenship and ID requirements). Continue to protect minority voting rights and important legislation like the Voting Rights Act. If this is an agenda you support, take the first crucial step with us and sign our petition urging the House to make election reform part of its platform during the 110th Congress’ first 100 hours. Thanks to a new majority in Congress, the shoe is now on the other foot -- right-wing bills hostile to voting rights have lost traction and progressive reform is now possible. Democratic leaders in the Senate have already indicated their intention to move important election reform measures and Senator Obama has reintroduced his Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act (S. 4069) to be more responsive to current events. Now, House leaders need to hear from the people that it should be at the top of their agenda too. Help us urge the new Congress to make election reform part of the 100-hour plan! Thank you for sharing our unwavering commitment to the right to vote and the integrity of American elections. -- Your Allies at People For the American Way P.S. If you would like to let us know what you think about our 2007 election reform agenda, please use our online contact form to submit your comment. We value your input!