Buzzflash interviews Rep. Rush Holt (D) on BBV legislation

[Dudley_DUright]

After the debacle of the 2000 election in Florida over hanging chads, a search began for a technological solution to voting problems and irregularities that would ensure that votes cast would actually be counted. The answer to some came in the form of touch screen voting technology. But what began as a technological fix to voting irregularities, may open pandora's box and potentially undermine the voting process and democracy itself. Now many Americans worry that computerized voting will allow the erasure and theft of elections all with the click of a button.

Americans need to know that computerized voting will increase their faith and the chances that their vote will actually be counted. Congressman Rush Holt of New Jersey (D-12th) believes that the solution is for touch screen voting machines to print a paper receipt that the voter sees. And if there are problems such as what happened in Florida in 2000, the paper trail is what is used for a recount. We spoke to Congressman Rush Holt about the legislation he has introduced to protect voter confidence and require a paper trail on all computerized voting machines. It is perhaps, one of the most important issues facing our democracy in an election year.

Rush Holt, 54, is a resident of Hopewell Township, N.J. Born in West Virginia he inherited his interest in politics from his parents. His father was the youngest person ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate, at age 29. His mother served as Secretary of State of West Virginia and remains the only woman to have held that position.

Rep. Holt earned his B.A. in Physics from Carleton College in Minnesota and completed his Master's and Ph.D. at NYU. He has held positions as a teacher, Congressional Science Fellow, and arms control expert at the U.S. State Department where he monitored the nuclear programs of countries such as Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. From 1989 until he launched his 1998 congressional campaign, Holt was Assistant Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the largest research facility of Princeton University and the largest center for research in alternative energy in New Jersey. He has conducted extensive research on alternative energy and has his own patent for a solar energy device. Holt was also a five-time winner of the game show "Jeopardy."

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http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/02/int04009.html