Leach to Co-Sponsor HR 550
By Sean Flaherty
Last week, Carole Simmons and I were honored to represent Iowans for Voting Integrity at two important and inspiring election integrity events in Washington, D.C. April 6 and 7 were Lobby Days, a citizen lobbying effort on behalf of Rep. Rush Holt’s election reform bill HR 550, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.
The Holt bill would require that all voting machines produce a voter-verified paper record, and that the paper record be the official ballot in a recount. Equally important, it would prohibit conflicts of interest between testing laboratories and voting machine vendors, require disclosure of software code, and establish a mandatory hand audit of 2% of all precincts in federal elections.
Congressman Jim Leach (R-IA-02) met with our Iowa-Missouri group, and agreed to cosponsor during our meeting! Three other Republicans, and six Democrats, have signed on since April 6.
Congressman Leach seemed a bit skeptical about two points: the cost of the bill, and the public disclosure of voting machine software. HR 550 provides funding for its provisions, to the tune of $150 million. The cost of the nationwide audit of 2% of precincts seemed to concern him. We mentioned the example of the Washington gubernatorial recount. That hand count cost about $3 million and counted 2.8 million ballots. In 2004 there were about 125 million votes cast, so the 2% puts the cost in the same league. The Washington example does provide evidence that the audit shouldn’t take us into tens of millions of dollars.
He wondered if public disclosure of software would make voting systems more vulnerable. I brought up the consensus against “security through obscurity.” Just as I thought we were getting into the weeds, he stated that he respected Holt, and was confident he had done his homework. He looked at Ms. Butler, said, “You know what, I like this. Sign me up as a cosponsor.”
Why hadn’t he signed on yet? Word had it among the leaders of Lobby Days that Leach is not one to cosponsor legislation. The issue may not be prominent on his radar screen, even though he was aware of a growing problem of public perception. He probably needed some constituent advocacy to nudge him in the right direction, and his respect for Rush Holt seemed quite unaffected.
It’s impossible not to be overwhelmed by the sobriety and passion of the election integrity movement. People came to lobby on their own dime, or on the pooled contributions of their state groups. They are well-informed , dismayed at what is happening to our democracy, and ready to fight for this cause as long as it takes. Not once did I hear a “conspiracy theory.” Those who try to dismiss our cause as belonging in the black-helicopter ranks should have been there.
There is real interest in this issue among Republicans. Some of the most spontaneous interest was shown by a staffer in a Republican Rep’s office (not one of the new cosponsors-yet). Politicians of both major parties have been through close races and dicey recounts. If you live in Jim Nussle’s (1st), Tom Latham’s, (4th) or Steve King’s (5th) district, or know folks who do, make sure that you mention the Republican cosponsors of HR 550 when you contact them. Frank Wolf (R-VA), according to Rush Holt, is a particularly weighty name among Congressional insiders.
Leonard Boswell (D-IA-03) is not yet a cosponsor; he should be! Here is a map of the 3rd District. If you live there, write him.
On Monday, a Florida activist (formerly of Clinton, IA) and I met with a staffer in Senator Harkin’s office. Harkin is interested in the issue but concerned about disabled access. The staffer, Beth Stein (actually a counsel to Harkin), assured us that he is committed to both a paper trail and equal access for the disabled. I think we can get him to come around. If we can arouse the interest of the Iowa disabled community, there’s no reason we can’t get him on board.
We did not lobby Senator Grassley, but the same principle applies to him as to all Republican legislators. It’s not a partisan issue, and the cosponsor list reflects that fact.
We’ve got a lot of work to do for election integrity here in Iowa. HR 550 is gaining momentum, but there is no guarantee that it or any other federal election integrity legislation will pass soon. We need to push for a state election integrity law with many of the same provisions as the Holt bill. But with our first HR 550 cosponsor, we are off to a strong start.
April 25th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Thanks for doing this important work. I’m pleased to see that Jim Leach signed on. The right to vote, and to have our votes counted, is the bedrock of our democracy. Those rights were taken from us beginning in November 2000. The theft of our democracy by people who claim to want to export democracy to the Middle East is a tragedy. I sincerely appreciate people such as yourself who have joined the fight against fradulant voting and vote counting. I didn’t realize that Iowa’s voters were in danger of not having their votes counted until I read recently that my home country, Humboldt County, had purchased Diebold machines. I live in Cedar County now and always vote absentee in general elections because my husband and I leave in October to travel to Arizona for the winter each year. It is satisfying to make my mark on a paper ballot. I just came across this Web site this evening and will check back often to see how things are going. Thanks again.