Election Reform - Positive Signs

WI State Senator Fred Risser plans to introduce legislation to allow state elections to be entirely funded with public money. Perhaps a bit utopian, but well worth the effort. Elections are now mostly paid for by corporations that cannot vote, yet who put candidates in office to serve their needs - not the needs of those of us who actually cast the ballots.

Democracy for America is urging the new Congress to pass legislation requiring paper ballots at the polls. It defys reason that local governments have approved and installed electronic voting machines that have no paper trail for re-counts. Since we know that the majority of these machines are designed and manufactured by companies run by people with specific political agendas - and since we know that these machines can be hacked - common sense tells one that paper ballots are the only deterrent to potential fraud. At least I'm relieved that when my local government upgraded to electronic machines last year, they chose the ones that use paper ballots that each voter marks and sends through a scanner. Sign a petition to encourage Congress to do the right thing.