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Maryland: Senate Democrats Defeat Verifiable Elections |
By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
April 11, 2006
Maryland voters will vote on paperless touchscreen voting machines
again this year thanks to concerted efforts by Democratic State Senate
President Mike Miller and Senator Paula Hollinger, chair of the
committee on Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs.
In a disappointment to election integrity activists nationwide, the
Senate killed a bill that had passed unanimously in the Maryland House
of Delegates that would have called for voter verified paper records
and mandatory audits on thde last day of the legislative session. As
sent to the Senate, the bill also included an amendment that called for
implementing a paper ballot optical scan voting system for this year's
elections. In addition to the unanimous support of the House of
Delegates, the proposal also had the full support of Governor Robert
Ehrlich, Jr. (R).
Senator Hollinger is running for the U.S. House seat currently held by
Rep. Benjamin Cardin. Senator Hollinger has ensured that it will be
impossible to independently verify the results of that election results
and that the votes of Maryland citizens will be counted by propreitary
software provided by Diebold Election Systems.
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