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Final Step to Keeping the Transition on Track |
March 30, 2009
Thanks in large part to grass roots pressure, tremendous progress has been made on ensuring the transition to paper ballots in 2010.
* The House of Delegates has left the funding in for the transition to paper ballots.
* The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee has left in the funding for the transition to paper ballots.
* The House of Delegates has passed HR893 which will solve the disability voting problem by allowing the use of touch screens as an option to paper ballots.
Now, we have a final hurdle – getting the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee to support HR893. This bill will give all voters, but especially disabled voters, an option to vote on touch screen voting machines. This is necessary because the bill mandating paper ballots included a provision that required disability equipment certified to the 2005 federal standards. The problem is that while some equipment is the certification process, none has yet been approved. This bill would allow the use of the touch screen as a transition until such equipment is ready.
It is critical that the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee vote for HR893. If they fail to do so the transition will have a major problem with disabled voters. Please write and call today.
You can click here to send an email to your senator and all the members of the committee. And, I urge you to call the chairwoman of the committee, Senator Joan Carter Conway, at (410) 841-3145, (301) 858-3145 or 1-800-492-7122, ext. 3145 (toll free). She has the power to decide whether to allow a vote on this bill before the committee.
Please take action today. Send a letter to your senator and the key senate committee. |
