[Pacg] Two Important Action Alerts - Paper Trails & Housing Trust - Please participate!

[Carolina 1961]

*PACG Election Reform:*
**
*Action Alert*
**
*From Sean Flaherty*
*Iowans for Voting Integrity*
www.iowansforvotingintegrity.org

In 2007, Iowans got a paper ballot
law<http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=billinfo&Service=Billbook&ga=82&hbill=SF369>for
our state, but
* Iowans must step up* to ensure that the 2008 Presidential election is not
decided by tens of millions of votes that cannot be verified or truly
recounted.

<http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/secure08/>Please Call 202-225-2911 and
urge Rep. Bruce Braley to continue his support of HR 811, the Voter
Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.

We hear that House leaders will be canvassing members over the next couple
of days to determine if HR 811 will get a vote this week. Please call today.

Background:

Unless federal or state legislation changes things, 13 states are likely to
use paperless electronic voting, either exclusively or extensively, in the
2008 election <http://www.verifiedvoting.org/> . Among those states are
Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Georgia and South Carolina.

A drumbeat of security
reports<http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2435&Itemid=26>,
including California's landmark
voting system review<http://www.iowansforvotingintegrity.org/Diebold%20Report%20Summary.pdf>published
in August, as well as a comprehensive
analysis <http://brennancenter.org/dynamic/subpages/download_file_39288.pdf>by
a task force of top computer scientists and vote-altering
glitches<http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/FINALELECTION_REFORM.PDF>
in
recent elections have proven this to be a risky and foolish gamble.

Election officials are balking at the 2008 deadline, because they don't want
to go through a change of equipment in a year's time. That is an
understandable motive, but states have proven that it can be done in less
than a year! Florida<http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?id=6462>is
going to prove it by November 2008.  New
Mexico<http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=938&Itemid=113>,
North Carolina<http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWSREC0101/60503019/-1>,
and other states<http://www.verifiedvoting.org/downloads/VotingSystemChange.pdf>have
implemented major overhauls in voting equipment in a
*matter or months*.
<http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=938&Itemid=113>

HR 811 is not perfect, and more will need to be done to protect the vote if
it becomes law - much more. See an excellent
piece<http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005421.php>by Matt
Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

*But without the bill*, we could forced to spend November 4, 2008 watching
the election returns and just hoping that electronic voting machines across
the country work correctly.
***Call Congressman Braley TODAY at 202-225-2911 to tell him to continue his
support of HR 811!***

*PACG Economic Justice / Poverty & Housing:*
*Action Alert**

Rep Braley has not yet signed on to co-sponsor the National Affordable
Housing Trust Fund (H.R. 2895). We are trying to get as many co-sponsors as
we can right now so that this important housing legislation will move in
this session of Congress. There are already nearly 80 bi-partisan
co-sponsors. The Housing Trust Fund will provide funding for rehabilitation
and construction of housing (mostly rental) particularly for
extremely-low-income families (those with income below 30% of the lower of
State or area median).

Please call and/or e-mail Rep. Bruce Braley today. You can call the
Washington office at  (202) 225-2911 and ask the congressman to co-sponsor
H.R. 2895, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund. You can also find a
sample message to e-mail at
http://capwiz.com/networklobby/issues/alert/?alertid=10323196

 *
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.qcprogressiveaction.org/pipermail/pacg/attachments/20070919/4e89c3d2/attachment.htm