By Linda Schade

Many Takoma Parkers are aware that in 2002 we started using new computerized Diebold voting machines.   Since then, a national movement formed to educate the public about the problems with this technology:   they can't do independent recounts, they suffer from an incredible array of technical problems, they are vulnerable to tampering, they cost more than any other system and they are non-transparent.   What goes into those 'black boxes' cannot be observed - which should NOT acceptable in a democracy.

TrueVoteMD.org is a project based in Takoma Park that has been pushing hard to fix this voting system - and get voter-verified paper ballots back into our elections.   This means that the voter gets to see a paper record of his/her choices and verify its accuracy. That could be done by fixing the Diebold machines or - as many other jurisdictions are doing- by replacing those inferior machines with reliable paper ballots which can then be counted by hand or by an optical scan machine.

Thanks to the wisdom of our town council, Takoma Park will use paper ballots in the upcoming November 2005 municipal elections.   This way the town saves money too.   The current plan is to hand count the ballots which means we could also benefit from the Instant Runoff Voting method where you rank your choices 1, 2, 3, etc until someone gets a majority. (See fairvote.org for more information.)

What About the Rest of Maryland?   What About 2006?

For the last two years, TrueVoteMD and thousands of Maryland voters have worked hard to get a bill passed in Annapolis requiring paper ballots.   In 2004, our Delegate Sheila Hixson - as Committee Chair over elections issues - killed the paper ballot legislation that made it through both legislative bodies which is nearly unprecedented in a bill's first year.   In 2005, Delegate Hixson refused to even bring the paper ballot bill up for a vote.

House Speaker Michael Busch recently told a TrueVoter that this legislation would be difficult to pass in 2006 "because Delegate Hixson is against it" though she may say otherwise in local Democratic meetings.   

In our busy lives, it is difficult to pay attention to what our legislators do in Annapolis but it is important.   Not only has Delegate Hixson betrayed democracy with her refusal to pass this widely supported legislation - she is also bad on campaign finance reform, re-districting reform, and she's even pro-slots!

TrueVoteMD Canvassing Campaign: All Hands on Deck!!

TrueVoteMD is now looking for volunteers for a fall Doorknock for Democracy campaign to educate our neighbors about the paper ballot issue and where legislators in District 20 stand.   If you aren't even for accurate elections, can we trust you on anything?

The canvass will run from September 26th to November 11th.  We'll be doing our first canvass training on September 17th from 2-3:30pm followed by a TrueVote PARTY from 4-6pm.   Please RSVP at alex@TrueVoteMD.org or call 301-270-6150.