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We had an unusual and much-appreciated opportunity to address the full House State and Local Government committee of the Tennessee legislature today on how that committee should support voter-verified paper ballots (VVPB) and mandatory random manual recounts (MRMR). Since we only had a little notice, I wasn't sure how many election reform supporters would show up. But the gallery was packed, with about half the attendees wearing orange armbands (our local group -- Gathering To Save Our Democracy -- has adopted that symbol in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.)
Our statewide Common Cause rep (who works daily with the legislature) introduced me, and then it was off to the races. On a whim, I started by asking everyone who believes in free, fair and verifiable elections to stand up. Of course, all of our group's members stood. I then asked the rest of the audience and the legislators: "Why aren't you standing?" It was a good ice-breaker, and got a good laugh.
We were fortunate that the next item on the committee agenda was a hotly contested ethics bill (requiring lobbyist disclosure), so the media was there in droves. They filmed my entire presentation and our local NPR station "Morning Edition" host talked with me afterward about doing several follow-up stories. We also came prepared with numerous handouts for the legislators and the gallery.
As soon as I started speaking, two prominent Republican committee members got up and left the room, skulking in the hallway until I finished. Perhaps the biggest audience reaction came near the end when I mentioned that 35% of American voters now believe that the 2004 election was stolen, up from 20% after the election. That brought audible gasps from some of the audience members, who obviously were not members of our group.
So just in case any of you find yourselves in a similar situation, here's how I tried to summarize our case for VVPB and MRMR in fifteen minutes. BTW, notable by his absence was our statewide Coordinator of Elections, who had been invited to attend. He was not missed and I hope that -- soon -- he will be replaced. Peace, out.
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Presentation to the House State and Local Government Committee
Tennessee State Legislature, May 17, 2005
Bernard H. Ellis, Jr., MA, MPH
Organizer, Gathering To Save Our Democracy
A. Introduction –
1. Thanks for opportunity to speak. Not here to sell you something, just to remind you that your respected positions are derived from the "consent of the governed", or should be. But the movement toward non-verifiable voting systems puts that in doubt, and with that, further reduces the faith of the American people in our election process and weakens faith in our government.
2. Recognize people in the audience – Dick Williams with Common Cause, civil rights leaders, young and old voters, able-bodied and disabled voters, members of six different political parties, people who have traveled from throughout the state. All united in a non-partisan effort to protect the vote in Tennessee, now and in the future.
3. "The right to vote is the primary right by which all other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a person to slavery." Thomas Paine. Democracy is an idea that requires faith/trust. Take away my ballot and you've undermined my faith. Take away my ballot and you've weakened my trust. Without faith and trust, we weaken the foundation of the country. Democracy is being weakened by moving away from paper ballots. (Thanks, Andy S -- I plagiarized this section from your speech at the "Nash-ional" conference.)
4. We hope this presentation is a continuation of an important dialog about the integrity of our voting processes here in Tennessee.
B. Improving Our TN Voting Systems: Making Voting More Secure, Not More Insecure
1. Tennessee has $56 million in HAVA money to spend, which is more than enough money to modernize our voting systems, make them more transparent and verifiable and still have funds available for making voting places more accessible NOW to the disabled and for other future improvements for years to come. However, if that money is wasted on expensive, non-verifiable electronic voting systems that are sold, managed and maintained by private companies whose actions (and equipment and software) cannot be monitored and audited, it will represent a small down-payment on the sale of our democracy to the highest bidder.
As Dr. Margaret McGaley (Irish computer scientist who led successful fight to reject electronic voting in Ireland) has said: "At first glance, e-voting seems like a wonderful idea. Counting is what computers are good at; automated voting seems like a natural progression. But truly automated voting – where the computer is voting instead of the people – is the stuff of nightmares. And this is what many computer experts fear from electronic voting. If you don't see your vote (which of course you can't if it's electronic), how do you know that it's recorded correctly?"
Stalin: "People who cast the votes decide nothing. People who count the votes decide everything."
Inebriated Republican Congressman (in June, 2004): "We've already won the 2004 election. It's all over but the counting and we're doing the counting."
2. In 2004, approximately 87% of all votes nationwide and 75% of the votes in Tennessee were cast and counted on electronic equipment that did not produce a voter-verified paper ballot. However, about one in ten ballots cast nationwide (and the ballots cast in about one-third of Tennessee counties in 2004) were cast on paper ballots, primarily through the optical scan ballot or the punch card ballot. Thus, we have many Tennessee counties with successful experience in using voting systems that start with paper ballots. We need to improve and expand these paper-based voting systems and make them verifiable by adding mandatory random manual recounts, as is done to some extent now in Hamilton County (Chattanooga).
C. The United States stands in the minority when it comes to non-verifiable voting systems.
1. Over 80% of the world's democracies use paper ballots and are satisfied with them.
2. Unlike the US, these countries have proportionally fewer challenges to their elections and ample opportunity to resolve any disputes, since they maintain paper ballots that can be recounted and audited.
3. Some countries like Italy and Ireland, which have experimented with or considered electronic voting, have decided to maintain paper ballots.
D. The reasons for avoiding electronic voting systems, as they are now used, are numerous:
1. These systems are proprietary – citizens and governments cannot review software.
(Elections are a fundamental function of government and should not be out-sourced. What's next – privatizing our police forces and our tax collections?)
2. These systems have minimal security and can be easily hacked. (Johns Hopkins study)
(Dr. Rebecca Mercuri – "Any programmer can write code that displays one thing on a screen, records something else and prints yet another result. There is no known way to ensure that this is not happening inside of any electronic voting system.")
3. Without producing a VVPB, these systems are non-verifiable and they are not auditable.
4. These systems are expensive.
5. These systems vary widely in performance and are less reliable than counting paper ballots.
(MIT study)
6. The problems associated with using this technology, without safeguards, are numerous. In 2004:
a. Votes were lost or subtracted and were irretrievable.
b. Votes were switched away from the voters' choice to another candidate or none.
c. Machines reported more votes than voters.
d. Machines broke down and were unrepairable at the precinct.
e. These electronic voting problems were reported in over 20 states.
E. What are the solutions that we must put in place before 2006?
1. Voter-verified paper ballots – Voters must either start with a paper ballot (as in the optical scan process) or must be provided a paper ballot at the end of their voting process that they can verify and that becomes the ballot of record. All voting systems now under consideration in Tennessee are capable of producing a VVPB.
"Trust – but verify." Ronald Reagan (Make the system verifiable and trust will be maintained.)
2. Mandatory random manual recounts – A small portion of the paper ballots (5-10%) must be recounted in every county in every election to insure that no errors were introduced by the electronic equipment or through any other intentional or unintentional acts.
F. What must we do here in Tennessee NOW to protect the vote?
1. The legislature could re-open the Elections sub-committee to consider Rep. Lynn's bill.
2. Legislature should give clear guidance to the SOS and to the county election commissions via a resolution, other directives or the passage of legislation.
3. County election commissions should make transparency and verifiability the highest priorities in selecting new voting systems
4. Citizens should play a serious and active role in defining the parameters of any changes in our voting systems, rather than being underutilized or used as a rubber stamp only. (Our HAVA citizens advisory committee hasn't met in 10 months.)
G. We must restore faith in the election process.
1. Almost half of all Americans who are eligible to vote do not participate now.
2. Among 2004 voters, the proportion who believes that the election was tampered with is now 35%, up from 20% shortly after the election.
3. Electronic voting without appropriate safeguards is the Astro-turf of democracy: expensive, dazzling, "modern" – and more likely to cause injury to those who use it. In the 70s and 80s, millions were spent installing Astro-turf. In the 90s, millions were spent removing it.
Let's not make the same Astro-turf mistake with our elections. The future of the country depends on it. Please work with us and other concerned citizens throughout Tennessee to protect our votes. Let's maintain a political system that derives its strength and legitimacy from the "consent of the governed", not simply by whose money talks the loudest.
Churchill: "Democracy is the worst form of govt, except for all those others that have been tried."
A real democracy requires voter-verified paper ballots and mandatory random manual recounts.
Please work with us to protect our votes and save our democracy.
Otherwise, we will become a country ruled by tyrants, kings or ayatollahs. That is not the America we want to live in. Thank you for your attention.
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At the end of my presentation, my words got a standing ovation from the gallery, which the committee chair allowed to continue for a while -- something that I am told is very unusual when the gallery speaks up at a legislative hearing. The only legislator who commented on my presentation on the record said that he fully supported VVPB, and he's a Republican.
All in all, we're pleased by the day and need to keep the momentum going. We will follow up with all the committee members, write all 95 of our county election commissions with copies of "Myth Breakers", try to identify the members of the moribund HAVA citizens advisory committee and agitate for them to call their own meeting rather than waiting for our statewide Coordinator of Elections to do so and work for a legislative resolution directing the SOS to pursue VVPB and MRMR with our HAVA money.
Now it's time to do a little bush-hogging on the tractor and to give thanks for the chance to speak truth to power -- with a Southern accent, only faster.
If we don't quit fighting, we cannot lose. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
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