Today Progressive States Network devotes its e-newsletter to "Election Integrity," and reports a dramatic swing back to paper ballots

Did you know that this November a majority of U.S. voters will use paper ballots?

by Ken

The Progressive States Network puts out a twice-weekly e-mail newsletter, which

chronicles the victories and setbacks of the progressive movements in America's states; shine a light on the best practices and the worst schemes; and help legislators, activists, and journalists across the country connect what is happening in their own backyard and across the country.

Today's edition is likely to be of interest to a lot of DWT readers concerned about the growing threat of election-stealing. It's devoted entirely to the broad subject: Election Integrity – How We Lost It and How States are Getting It Back, also the title of Christian Smith-Socaris's lead article. In addition, there are articles on:

* Protecting Ballot Integrity

* Post-Election Audits That Work

* Stopping the Privatization of Elections

Along the way imagine my surprise to learn, for example, that:

(a) The writers consider paper ballots "the only true secure option," judging the problems with VVPATs (electronic voting machines with “voter verified paper audit trails”) too serious to be solvable; and --

(b) Instead of moving toward fancier and fancier electronic equipment, as everyone assumed would be the case with reforms paid for in part by the Help America Vote Act, the country is actually moving back to paper ballots.

This November, for the first time, a majority of voters in the country will cast a paper ballot on election day and just 36% will use electronic machines, marking movement in the direction of more secure paper-based elections. At least one state is also trying to recover funds spent on problem plagued machines, contending that machine companies have not fulfilled their contractual obligations to supply reliable voting equipment. Diebold, the most prominent manufacturer of voting systems has changed the name of its voting technology subsidiary so that voting machine problems don’t effect the reputation of the entire company.

Clearly the move away from electronic voting machines is a tremendous victory for voters and a boon for fair elections. However, other clear threats to the integrity of our elections remain. The controversy over electronic voting machines motivated many to look more closely at the safeguards that protect our election systems from fraud and manipulation, and what has been found is troubling. Paper ballots are clearly not enough to make our elections secure; we also need a reliable way to verify election results. Recognition of this fact has moved the election integrity debate forward into two additional areas: post-election audits and publicly controlled elections.

If you go to the above link to view this issue of Stateside Dispatch, you can also sign up to receive it regularly.

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