This is the third or fourth version of this idea. I've sent this idea, in one form or another to:

1. John Conyers
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
4. Every member of the Ohio Rules Committee
5. Randi Rhodes
6. SoS candidates Debra Bowen (CA) and Jennifer Brunner (OH)
7. ...and many more!

I've also posted this at DU, Conyers Blog, BradBlog, Mike Malloy's blog and many more places.

Please add, refine, dissect, discuss and most importantly
DISSEMINATE everywhere, especially to your Secretaries of State and county BoE officials!

I've been thinking about this awhile now. We need complete and total transparency in our voting process. Here's my suggestion:

****PAPER, PEN & PEOPLE****

1. Paper and pen is the obvious choice for casting ballots.
2. Instead of having appointed people, there should be a pool of all registered voters, that are picked AT RANDOM, much like the way jurors are picked. (Perhaps BOE officials should be elected, too!)
3. Add to this that companies MUST give employees PAID days off for training and working Election Day. It's OUR Republic and OUR democracy! Let the voters run their own elections! Tell me, what red-blooded, patriotic American wouldn't take two PAID days off work to ensure their democracy is working? Give the voters OWNERSHIP of the PROCESS! Power to the People!
4. This would also include no funny black boxes counting votes: Paper and pen and hand counting! This is how they STILL do it in Canada! No more republican-backed companies (ES&S, Diebold, Sequoia, TRIAD, et. al.) getting a WAD of OUR TAX $$$ on bogus, insecure machines and stealing our elections! Use Web-Cams to monitor the voting and counting, too.
5. Each precinct can use a simple adding machine with a triplicate paper tape. They FAX their results to the BOE of their county. The same process is repeated for counties to report totals to the state BOE. Instant Paper Trail!

I'd add that IF we MUST use ANY electronic tabulation, that it be OPEN-SOURCE code, available to the General Public for review. (Australia uses this now. See Aussies Do It Right.) Hardware would also have to be scrutinized, since WiFi can easily be incorporated in any electronic device - takes about three chips. BUT Paper Pen and People! should be the way of the day! Any electronic machine (especially the central tabulators) can break down or be hacked, no matter how secure!

Also, the paper ballots could use any number of security devices, similar to how money and checks are printed (microprint, bar codes, security threads and so forth) to prevent ballot duplication.

Lastly, Election Day should be a NATIONAL HOLIDAY. Many democracies around the world give everybody a day off to vote. Ditto that for the primaries. No more IA & NH picking candidates. The demographics of these two states do not represent an accurate cross-section of America. Dump tradition and let's move on to a better, fairer system of regional or same-day primaries.

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Don't forget, it's not who cast the votes, it's Who's Counting!

Got Vote?