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Thursday, February 16, 2006
VICTORY On Paper Ballots Bill!
I just got official word that SB 295, the paper ballot voting bill, received final approval in the NM Senate at midnight last night! It's now on the way to the Governor's office for signature.
Months and months of work by many election reform activists and legislators, as well as Governor Richardson and his staffers, has paid off bigtime! Special thanks go out to Verified Voting NM, United Voters of NM and Voter Action NM, as well as to the members of Democracy for New Mexico and other grassroots activists who visited the Legislature, wrote letters and made phone calls on behalf of this bill!
Congratulations to the bill's sponsor, Senator Linda Lopez, to Governor Richardson for making this legislation a top priority and to all who toiled so hard and so long to obtain a system New Mexico voters can depend on for accuracy and auditability. Very special thanks to Paul Stokes, Charlie Strauss and Terry Riley for hours too numerous to count spent at meetings of the Election Reform Task Force, Legislative hearings and keeping everyone informed.
I'll provide more on this as details emerge. We know there's more work to do to make this a reality, but for now, let's celebrate! (Thanks to Amanda Cooper for the heads up on this.)
February 16, 2006 at 09:38 AM in Local Politics | Permalink
Comments
The Governor asked me to again personally thank everyone for all of their hard work to make paper ballots a reality in New Mexico. The efforts of us all working together on this critical issue was fantastic. A special thanks again to all from all walks of life who helped make this a reality.
Sincerely,
Amanda Cooper
Political Director
Governor Bill Richardson
Posted by: Amanda Cooper | Feb 16, 2006 10:15:16 AM
GREAT NEWS! Hurrah! Huzzah! Boola boola!
Posted by: I Vote | Feb 16, 2006 10:24:53 AM
Gracias to all!
Posted by: Old Dem | Feb 16, 2006 11:38:28 AM
But...
I believe there is no deadline in the bill to have the paper ballots for the next election or perhaps, even for the next presidential election. Now, we on the left need to light a fire under it to git 'er done.
Posted by: qofdisks | Feb 16, 2006 11:49:45 AM
Wonderful! Now how do we get this going in time for fall elections?
Posted by: Liz Mcmaster | Feb 16, 2006 12:18:35 PM
If the software in the computers used to scan and count the paper ballots cannot be certified, by an independent authority, to be free of fraudulent code, little will have been achieved. I'm told hand-counts will be done on 2 percent of the machines and if there's a discrepancy, hand-counts will be required BUT, the questions remains, all ballots in New Mexico, or the polling station, or what?
Even if assurance is available that an honest count can and will be made, we'll have spent millions of dollars for equipment that does nothing that hand-counting can do for nothing - as it is in Canada!
Posted by: Jim Steeves | Feb 16, 2006 10:06:04 PM
I agree that hand-counting as is done in Canada makes the most sense and is the cheapest method. But this setup of optical scanners and paper ballots is pretty darn good. When it gets implemented, NM will have one of the best and most auditable systems in the nation.
I think the required random audits of machine totals vs. paper counts goes a long way toward making sure no hanky panky is in the software.
Posted by: I Vote | Feb 17, 2006 8:53:23 AM
