VERY IMPORTANT: Please Attend Election Reform Day at NM Legislature on Wednesday

Please consider attending Election Reform Day at the Legislature in Santa Fe on Wednesday, February 23rd at the Roundhouse. Consponsored by United Voters of NM and Verified Voting NM, this is perhaps our best chance to convince legislators that there is widespread and passionate support for such things as voter verified paper ballots, automatic random recounts and more.

We know that many of you work during day, but if there's an event that merits taking the day off to work at democracy, this is it. If we don't have fair, transparent and accountable voting, what do we have?

LET'S COME OUT IN LARGE NUMBERS ON WEDNESDAY so Legislators, reporters and our fellow citizens know how serious we are about supporting effective election reform -- not window dressing or a future committee study.

Here's a summary of events on February 23rd at the Capitol Rotunda:

8:00 AM - 10:00 AM Lobbying Legislators (pick up packet in Captiol Rotunda)

ELECTION REFORM DAY News Conferences
Date:  Wednesday, February 23
Time:  10:00 AM and 11:00 AM at Capitol Rotunda
Subjects: Law Suit on 2004 Voting Problems in New Mexico (10:00 AM)
The Need for Voter-Verifiable Paper ballots (11:00 AM)
Followed by Rally!

NOTE: Terry Riley of NM Democratic Friends has created a sign for us to hold up during these events. Download it here: JPEG version , , . Pass it on.

Here's the press release on Election Reform Day from United Voters of NM:

A coalition of citizens and organizations is urging the legislature to institute major reforms in New Mexico voting procedures, including voter-verifiable paper ballots for electronic machines, and automatic random recounts in every election.

“We ask our lawmakers to act now to ensure that votes by New Mexico citizens are efficiently cast and accurately counted,’ said Wayne Moses Burke of United Voters of New Mexico (UVoteNM), the coalition of election reform supporters.  “Without that assurance, our fundamental American right to vote has been and is in jeopardy.”

UVoteNM has set Wednesday February 23 as Election Reform Day at the Roundhouse and scheduled two news conferences on the issues in the Capitol Rotunda.  Activities start at 8 a.m. with a “citizens lobbying effort” and continue at 10 a.m. with a news conference by the plaintiffs in the pending lawsuit by New Mexico voters seeking an injunction against further use of voting machines that malfunctioned during the November election. At 11 a.m. there will be a news conference and speakers forum by Verified Voters New Mexico (VVNM), a voting rights advocacy group which is focused on the need for voter verified paper ballots and automatic audit provisions.

Organizations represented in the UVoteNM coalition include Verified Voting New Mexico,  Progressive Democrats of America, Democratic Party of Los Alamos County, NM Democratic Friends, Democracy for America - DFNM, Green Party of Santa Fe, Buena Gente, Tikkun, Las Vegas Peace & Justice Center, Las Vegas Committee for Peace & Justice, among others.

“We want a state law that mandates a voter-verified paper record of the votes counted by every electronic machine so that the machine count can be double-checked for accuracy,” said Pat Leahan of VVNM.  ”This issue cannot be postponed. Bernalillo County is considering buying more than a thousand new voting machines.  There will be a major waste of taxpayer money unless those machines are required to provide the voter-verified paper trail that makes audits and recounts possible.”

Wayne Moses Burke added, “Automatic audits are an absolute necessity in order to be sure that vote tallies from electronic machines are identical to those done by hand counting.”

Robert Stearns of VVNM said, “These are not partisan issues.  They affect all New Mexico voters, all candidates, all political parties.”

United Voters of New Mexico
1415-E West Alameda St.  Santa Fe NM 87501 505-310-1272
https://uvotenm.org/
A coalition of citizens and organizations committed to ensuring transparency, accuracy, and fairness in the voting system of New Mexico.