Web site created by Teresa Hommel, contact us -- admin @ wheresthepaper.org
Presentation description
How do electronic voting machines work? How are they affecting our democracy?
This nonpartisan presentation will give you
an overview of electronic voting machines
and the alternative of voter-marked paper ballots with the votes tallied
at close-of-polls by hand-to-eye counts.
What issues do the different voting technologies raise?
You will also learn about federal and state legislation,
and the widely recognized problems with using computers in elections.
We will provide suggestions on what concerned citizens can do today.
About Ms. Hommel
A corporate trainer in computer technology and a consultant for more
than 20 years, Teresa Hommel has been speaking to groups
in New York and other states, alerting them to the problems
with electronic voting machines and the potential threat they pose
to the integrity of our elections. Her voting machine simulation, a
demonstration called the "Fraudulent Voting Machine" has been
used internationally to help people understand the special security
problems with computers used in voting. It was exhibited
at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Symposium
"Building Trust and Confidence in Voting Systems"
Dec. 10-11, 2003, www.vote.nist.gov/
Teresa
testified
before the NY State Task Force on HAVA Implementation
in July, 2003, in New York City; her testimony in the
official transcript
begins on page 138.
She also testified before the
Government Administration and Elections Committee
of the Connecticut General Assembly in February, 2004.
She has addressed the
2004 Communications Workers of America
National Legislative/Political Conference in Washington DC.
on March 28, 2004;
the USACM-Sponsored Workshop on Voter Verified
Election Systems in Denver in July, 2003; and the
Urban Ministries Conference
of the Unitarian Universalist Association
in Boston, March 20, 2004.
She has written articles
on this issue for the September, 2003, newsletters of the
NY Women's Bar Association
and the Sierra Club New York City Group.
Teresa's work was featured in the Spring, 2004,
issue of
The Key Reporter.
The Fraudulent Voting Machine was mentioned in the
Rocky Mountain News,
May 30, 2004,
and the
Village Voice,
July 21-27, 2004.
Here is Teresa's July 13, 2004,
statement at the Rally for
Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trails in Albany, New York.
Here is her statement
before the Governmental Operations Committee
of the New York City Council, October 18, 2004.
Teresa wrote an article called
Don't Hand Democracy Over to Computers
for the November/December 2004 issue of UU World.
Here is her statement
before the Election Law Committee of the New York State Assembly,
Dec. 20, 2004.
In 2005, Teresa addressed
New Standards for Elections:
A forum on technical and nontechnical requirements for voting systems
, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University,
Feb. 12. Her remarks are available
here and at the forum web site.
On May 4, she addressed the New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's
Mayor's Election Modernization Task Force.
She spoke in
Pennsylvania on Monday, June 27, 2005.
On June 30, 2005, she testified before the EAC.
On September 23, 2005, she
testified before the Government Operations Committee
of the NY City Council
on VotersUnite.org's analysis of New Mexico data
from November, 2004, which suggests that two pushbutton DRE voting systems
disenfranchised Hispanic and Native American voters.
On November 21, 2005, she
testified before the Government Operations Committee
of the NY City Council on two subjects,
calculation of acquisition costs of PBOS versus DREs,
and criticism of the State Board's new
Draft Regulations on Voting Systems Standards.
On December 13, 2005, she
testified before the Assembly Elections Committee
on four subjects.
On December 20, 2005, Teresa Hommel submitted a
comment to the
New York State Board of Elections on the draft Voting System Standards.
On January 22, 2006, she submitted a
second comment
including proposed language for escrow provisions and
the conduct of a large public test of systems prior to certification.
On February 27, 2006 Teresa spoke before the
Governmental Operations Committee of the New York City Council on
Oversight of the Process of Selecting New Voting Machines.
On March 7, 2006 Teresa spoke before the same committee on
The Cost of New Voting Machines.
On March 9, 2006 Teresa spoke before the
Ways and Means Committe of the Suffolk County Legislature.
On April 24, Teresa testified before the
Governmental Operations Committee
of the New York City Council in favor of resolutions urging adoption
of paper ballots and optical scanners, and urging public testing prior
to selection.
On June 10, 2006, Teresa
addressed a Caucus at the League of Women Voters national convention.
On June 12, the delegates approved a
strong resolution
requiring voting systems to have a voter-verifiable paper ballot/record.
Teresa addresssed the City Council Governmental Operations Committee on
June 26, 2006 and
Oct. 4, 2006 to
urge continuous, detailed oversight of the NYC Board of Elections,
and to urge that simplicity, understandability, manageability, and
observability be added to the Board of Elections' criteria for
selection of equipment for 2007.
Teresa addresssed the Press Conference at City Hall for Resolution 228-A
Aug. 16, 2006. Click
here
for more on the resolution and press conference, including photos.
Teresa addresssed a Press Conference in Brooklyn sponsored by State
Senator Velmanette Montgomery on
November 13, 2006
and the Board of Elections in the City of New York on
November 21, 2006.
She addresssed
the Board of Elections in the City of New York AGAIN on
January 23, 2007,
the joint hearing of the Governmental Operations Committee
and the Technology in Government Committee of the New York City Council
on January 29, 2007, and
law students at Cardozo School of Law on
January 31, 2007.
Teresa addresssed the Press Conference on the steps of City Hall on
March 14, 2007 to celebrate passage of Resolution 131 which
urges adoption of paper ballots and optical scanners.
Teresa submitted a
statement
entitled "Limitations of Certification Testing, "Transparency," and Current
Standards and What Congress Can Do"
to the United States House of Representatives
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives,
on the occasion of their Field Hearing in New York City, May 7, 2007.
Here is Teresa's paper
Election Fraud in America: Don't worry about Paper Ballots--The
Problem is Secret Procedures and Lack of Observers!
dated Nov. 16, 2007.
Teresa submitted a
statement
for the official record of the July 25, 2007, hearing on S1487
by the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee.
Teresa testified before the New York City Council Governmental Operations
Committee on
Nov. 13, 2007 and explained why
"one of the greatest voter deceptions in our nation today is the use
of computers to record, cast, store, handle, and count votes."
Teresa testified before the New York City Council Governmental Operations
Committee on
Feb. 14, 2008 on "Improving Democracy and the Ability of Citizens to
Participate in the Electoral Process."
She testified again on September 26, 2008 and on
November 25, 2008.
Teresa testified before the New York State Senate Elections Committee on
April 24, 2009 on election day voter registration and enabling
voter registration forms to be submitted to a Board of Elections
as late as 10 days before an election.
Teresa spoke at a workshop at the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations 48th Annual General Assembly in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, June 27, 2009, on "Does Touchscreen Voting Violate the 5th Principle?". She also spoke at the forum with Secretary of State Ritchie of Minnesota and Secretary of State Bowen of California.
For a speaker for your groups, please email us.
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie of Minnesota, Secretary of State Debra Bowen of California, and Teresa Hommel of Community Church of New York, June 27, 2009.