Do you remember the Stolen Elections of 2000 (Florida) and 2004 (Ohio)? We will never forget them, because we fought hard after both elections to count every vote.

And now we can finally do something about it by passing Rep. Rush Holt's "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act."

Sign our petition to Congress:

In 2000, the Republican Supreme Court blocked a manual recount of 175,000 never-counted paper ballots and appointed George Bush as President, with disastrous consequences for our nation and the world. And in 2004, many disputed Ohio votes were cast on touchscreens, so a manual recount was impossible.

After 2004, grassroots activists across the country fought to ban touchscreen voting and to require full manual recounts in close elections. Thanks to activists, the closest race in 2008 - the Minnesota Senate battle between Al Franken and Norm Coleman - used paper ballots which were recounted entirely by hand. This careful and precise manual recount changed the result from a Coleman lead of 477 on Election night to a Franken lead of 312 today.

But a Minnesota-style recount would be impossible in one-third of the U.S. because of paperless touchscreen voting. That's why Congress must pass Rep. Rush Holt's "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" to ban touchscreen voting and require manual recounts in close elections.

Sign our petition to Congress:
http://www.democrats.com/ban-touchscreen-voting?

I urge you to co-sponsor Rep. Rush Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act to ban unverifiable touchscreen voting.

This bill requires verifiable and accessible voting systems in federal elections with paper ballots marked by voters by hand or through the use of non-tabulating ballot marking devices.

It will ensure that voters in every precinct across the United States are guaranteed the right in a federal election to cast their votes using paper ballots. It will require election audits for every federal election where the winning candidate receives less than 80 percent of the vote.

The past several election cycles have demonstrated that electronic voting systems present a serious threat to the integrity of our elections. Touchscreen machines (DRE's) have proven to be unreliable and insecure for the counting and recording of votes. Further, touchscreens repeatedly malfunction during elections, causing long lines and disenfranchising thousands of voters. And touchscreens provide no opportunity to conduct a meaningful recount or audit of an election. As a result, voters throughout the country have lost confidence in the accuracy of reported electoral outcomes in jurisdictions using touchscreens.

More than a century ago, the United States Supreme Court stated in the case of Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370 (1886), that the right to vote is "a fundamental political right" which is "preservative of all rights." The Holt Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act is a critical measure for helping to protect this most basic right.