I join the growing numbers of citizens across this country who are declaring "no confidence" in the machine tally results of the special election held on June 6, 2006, for the 50th Congressional District in California. I further join their call for a full hand-count of both the paper ballots and the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail in that election.
We face today a crisis in public confidence in the integrity of our elections. This crisis threatens the foundation of our democracy. Now more than ever, we must return to a basic truth: In order for voters to trust the outcome of our elections, they must be able to trust that their votes are properly counted.
It is clear that too many voters in California's 50th Congressional District do not trust that their votes have been properly counted in the June 6, 2006 special election.
In the wake of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004, we must stand up and prevent further erosion of the public's trust in our democracy. Following the November 2004 election, I went to Ohio and led the fight in the federal courts for a full recount of the presidential vote in that state - a recount that Ohio election officials resisted and ultimately refused to conduct in a manner consistent with the due process and equal protection guarantees of the US Constitution.
We must now continue this struggle for the integrity of our elections with the Busby-Bilbray race, a race closely watched by people across the country as both major political parties fight for majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the upcoming 2006 general election.
We cannot claim to serve as a model of democracy for the world, when our own election outcomes are not trusted here at home.
As Massachusetts Secretary of State, I will build and lead a coalition of secretaries of state from around the country to stand up to the private voting machine companies that are undermining the public's trust. I will set a standard for Massachusetts and for the nation: We will not contract with any private voting machine companies that do not guarantee a paper trail and hand-recorded paper ballot, access to the source codes and data within the machines, and opportunity to publicly own the machines in full.
We must reclaim our democracy. Count every vote.
