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*BUNCOMBE COUNTY ACTION ALERT*
see also our message to Board of Elections Members here
see also our background on background of Buncombe struggle
Tell your County Commissioners "Hands Off of the Public Confidence in Elections Law" See sample message lower down the page.
Buncombe County Commissioners have made it plain and clear that they want to have S 223 hauled back to the legislature and they are willing to use their pull to do so. That is why they are hand counting the primary and buying touchscreens only for the disabled. If the law is amended it will allow weak companies with bad voting machines and bad business practices to put our elections at risk again.
Urge your county commissioners to choose the more reliable and disabled friendly optical scan and ballot marking equipment. the DREs with audio interface for non-visual access only work for the blind. It says so in the name of the equipment - "non-visual access". They don't work for people with other disabilities besides being blind. The AutoMARK ballot marking system does enable people with other diabilities to vote, and that only works with the opti-scan system.
If the Commissioners make the decision before April 1, 2006, the county will receive an additional $30,000 grant from the State Board of Elections. You don't want voting machines from the companies that couldn't meet our model voting system standards.
Buncombe County Commissioners said in their Jan 19 meeting that they want to "postpone the decision to see if someone else gets into the game." They also state in that meeting :
"Wake will go to the General Assembly to get this mess of a law changed."
Please email and call your county commissioners so that they will uphold the law instead of weakening it. Make their phones ring off of the hook. This is a good law that protects our votes. We need to go forward, not backwards in order to have more secure elections.
County Commissioners' email addresses - Click here to send one email to group of commissioners
suggested Sample Message to Commissioners
Dear Commissioner _______
As a voter who has followed the Election machine developments since Nov 04 when Carteret lost 4500 votes without a recount, I am very concerned about your stated plan to hold off on the voting machine decision while you lobby to change the Public Confidence in Elections Act.
Thanks to SB 223, our state's reputation for voting integrity has begun to be repaired. The law is working fine in improving our voting systems and unmasking the problems of weak or unreliable vendors who disrupted our elections in 2004. There is no need to weaken the law, damage voter confidence
The law was designed to do exactly as it has done -- weed out those systems that weren't fully transparent and protect our votes.
I am worried that misinformation has clouded the decision to weaken our state's high Election standards.
1)Our 9 year old Seqouia Voting Record machines must be replaced since they do not meet HAVA federal standards nor the ADA capability as well as our state's paper verification. Delaying their replacement beyond April is not an option--the Dept of Justice has already sued lagging states and the State BOE staff is proceeding throughout the state. If Buncombe purchases voting machines before April 1, 2006, the county will receive an additional $30,000 grant from the State Board of Elections.
2)We deserve to secure our $1 + million in HAVA funds. With 95 plus counties including Catawba already selecting their machines from the State BOE, Buncombe should not wait for a reversal or change in vendors.
3)Touchscreen machines have a less reliable paper ballot/record.
Even Wake Board of Election's own paid expert - Mr. Glenn Newkirk - opposes touch screens fitted with printers - deeming it as experimental technology, likely to jam up the machines and cause confusion and longer lines in polling places.
Read the letter to Congress he signed
4)Optical Scans have served 48 North Carolina counties well for years in elections and recounts. More counties are switching from DRES to optical scan. We should purchase them and order M100s and the related ADA compliant AutoMarks, particularly since they are 1/3 the cost and more reliable than the DRE touchscreen voting machines that the Buncombe BOE wants to buy for Early Voting.
5) Op-scan voting equipment is less-expensive than DRE touchscreen voting machines with a thermal paper trail. Wake County, an optical scan county - spent about $ 1 Million less than Mecklenburg, and Wake only has about 10,000 less voters.
See a cost study history of 4 large North Carolina counties at
Durham County makes a profit off of recycling their paper ballots. They recycle everything.
6) The AutoMark works with OpScan ballots and is preferred by blind and disabled voters and it allows them (and visually impaired seniors)to vote like everyone else in the precinct. the DREs with audio interface for non-visual access only work for the blind. It says so in the name of the equipment - "non-visual access". They don't work for people with other disabilities besides being blind. The AutoMARK ballot marking system does enable people with other diabilities to vote, and that only works with the opti-scan system.
7) The Board of Elections Proposal costs an extra $1.9 Million more than the amount of the HAVA grant funds in order to buy some touchscreen machines that create a "paper trail" not a paper ballot. We should follow the example of Durham County, which has 4,318 more registered voters than Buncombe. Durham is choosing optical scan and the Automark, and NO touchscreen machines at all.
8)As an alternative, County Commissioners could recommend the Optical scan solution (M100s and AutoMarks for early Voting and all precincts) - this requires the least extra funds but still gives us reliable upgrades to our current machines and treats all blind/disabled voters fairly. Yes, precinct splits for Early Voting in October, 2006, may require special handling but no worse than reading the miles of paper trails inside the iVotronics. This is why Durham and Wake County selected this option.
Your decision is critical for Buncombe County for the next decade and should be based on vote integrity, confidence, and cost effectiveness. Please give our voters the Optical Scans and AutoMarks they prefer with the best cost option.
Thank you,
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