Paper Ballots for Democracy

To State Legislatures:

This issue is where it all begins. Without elections Americans can feel safe about, we have nothing else. In my opinion fair elections are also a matter of national security. Just take a look at what 2000 has wrought for all Americans who believe in Democracy.

Yet, to this day not only has justice for that crime and the other anomalies these machines have now brought us been sought, but our representatives stick their heads in the sand regarding this issue thinking it either doesn't exist, or that it will go away. Well, they are wrong on both counts.

Eighty percent of our votes are now counted by electronic voting machines with anomalies and outright fraud and vote switching being proven. The GEMS system on DIEBOLD allows hacking and that also has been proven. Also in many states, these companies refuse to make their source codes public, and by doing that bring suspicion upon themselves. These companies are also beholding to both Republicans and Democrats, with Republicans however getting the lions share of donations. This simply goes against what we believe as Americans.

These machines on the whole are counterproductive to Democracy and they must go. Voters regardless of political affiliation must be given an option of paper ballots at the polls. This is something I believe we need to get back to. It is also something many others of all politics believe in as well who are not being heard as they should be on this issue. We need to change all of that, and we need to get back to basics.

Our country was also not founded on secret ballots. Secret ballots were not used until after the Civil War in this country, and our voting process needs to be transparent in order to be considered safe and fair. Our Founding Fathers also affixed their names boldly to a document that for sure would have seen them hanged had not the American Revolution been a success. They had the courage to speak out clearly and boldly about where they stood. Americans today must regain that spirit and courage in open voting and in standing up for the country those men died for. It is in my view the only way to save her.

Since we the people also have no legal recourse according to the Constitution to fire those who violate our Constitution save impeachment by our representatives, then doing all we can as citizens to take our votes back is in my view the next logical step.

Paper ballots are the only way to ensure the integrity of our vote in America.

NO secrets, NO electronic voting, NO corporate sponsorship, NO ties to the politicians running for office, and NO privatization of our Democracy!

DIEBOLD OUT!

Won't you join this fight for our very soul as a nation?

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PFG Paper Ballot Initiative

(1) All votes for elected office should be cast on paper ballots nationwide with specific audit controls in place. The ballot should note the voter's name and address in their handwriting for further verification of their vote in case of a recount.

(2) All votes cast should then be hand counted in public view, and this manual count will be the official count of the votes to be announced publicly at the time of counting.

(3) The totals for all elected offices should then be posted at polling places before ballots are moved to any central facility for audit purposes. All subsequent totals should then be verified to the public vote total for accuracy.

(4) On election day, teams of election auditors would then be employed to do spot checks of randomly selected polling stations to verify that procedures are being adhered to according to the law and that all verification processes are in accordance with precribed accounting practices.

(5) In any precinct where votes for elected office are cast on punch card or optical scan ballots, the machine totals for those offices should also be posted at the location where the votes are machine-counted before being moved to any other facility, where their totals will then be subsequently footed.

(6) All absentee votes and early voting votes for elected offices should also be cast on paper and counted in full public view at a publicly announced place prior to the election in election day, and those totals also publicly posted after counting.

(7) All precinct results for all votes should then be manually entered on spreadsheets and officially signed off by election auditors.

The heart and soul of America is now being stolen from us.

Please do the right thing by the American people.