Ballot Integrity Project
                       Minutes of 3/10/04 Meeting
                           Drafted by Roy L

[] Introductions

   The meeting was called to order by Roy L. at 7:15 pm at Healing
   Earth Resources, 3111 N. Ashland, Chicago.

   The following were present:

   John G.
   Annette J.
   Roy L.
   Larry Q.
   Julia T.
   Luke G.
   Gail S.
   Peter Z.

   Larry agreed to act as recording secretary for the meeting.


[] Approval of Minutes.

   The minutes of the February meeting were approved as published.


[] Old business.

   [] Task forces

      [] Contact with public officials.

         Larry reported that he has been invited by Lt. Governor Pat Quinn
         to send material about our concerns.  The Lt. Governor said he
         would forward the materials to other state officials, including
         Speaker of the House, Mike Madigan.

         Larry proposes sending the Lt. Governor a copy of Joan K's recently
         updated report on voting machine problems.  He will send copies to
         our group for review beforehand.

   [] Requests received for materials.

      [] Roy sent Sharona a list of URLs for handout materials.

         However, she responded that her interest was not in general
         handout materials, but specifically in more information about
         our group and its activities.  Roy then sent her the pointer
         to our new website.

      [] The Lincoln Park Neighbors United for Peace (lpnufp) has revised
         its plans for their April 20 forum on electronic voting.  Though
         they will still be showing "Unprecedented," the documentary about
         the Florida elections in November 2000, they are now scheduling
         a different speaker: David Orr, Clerk of Cook County.

         Therefore, we will not be presenting a speaker from our group
         at the forum.  But we are still invited to participate by handing
         out materials.

   [] Domain name and website.

         Roy reported that our group now has its own domain name,
         "ballot-integrity.org."  The website is also up and running.

[] New business

   [] Which Senate bill should people support, and why?

      There are three Senate bills under study as amendments to the
      Help America Vote Act (HAVA).  Annette requested input on which
      of the three most deserves our support.

      The consensus was that Senate bill 1960 is the preferred bill.
      This bill is a "clone" of Rush Holt's bill, H. R. 2239.

      A pointer to a comparison of the three bills is on our website.

  [] Larry reported that he and John had come up with a strong argument
     for handcounting the ballots in next November's elections:  Whenever
     a company installs a new accounting system, they run the old system
     and the new system in parallel for a time, until the bugs have been
     worked out of the new system.

     This accounting paradigm is essential for voting systems as well.
     Thus, handcounting should be continued until the bugs have been
     worked out of the new computerized systems.  In particular, this
     policy should be followed during November's elections.

     Larry will develop this concept and incorporate it into materials
     he has developed.


  [] Alliances

     [] Northwestern University students

        Luke G., a student at Northwestern University, attended our meeting
        to present an offer of assistance from a group of interested students.
        The type of help is limited only by the skills and specialties of
        the student activists that enlist in this effort.

        The group offered about ten or fifteen possible projects that we
        would be eager to have help with.  Luke will present his list to
        his fellow students, possibly add ideas to it, and get back to us
        on which projects they will take on at present.  He also suggested
        that his group may serve as liason to students at other local
        universities.

        In turn, Luke invited our assistance in presenting information at
        the University community.

     [] A nationalized "Ballot Integrity Project"

        Larry proposed placing our group under an envisioned national,
        multi-state "Ballot Integrity Project."  Discussion of the proposal
        was deferred, pending study.

     [] March on Washington

        Larry reported a request from Steve that we support a mass march
        on Washington in May, in conjunction with the following organizations:

        * Verified Voting        * Bev Harris
        * True Majority          * Operation Push
        * Fair Vote              * Disability Advocacy Groups


     [] Education during voter registration drives.

        It was suggested that various groups doing voter registration
        might be willing to hand out our literature during registrations.

        We might approach Operation Push with this idea, as they have a
        strong involvement in voter registration.

  [] HAVA amendments.

     It was proposed that our group encourage voters to contact the members
     of Congress who drafted HAVA and to encourage them to allow its
     refinement.  Senator Durbin of Illinois is one of the members.

     Contact info for HAVA committee members is at http://verifiedvoting.org.

[] Announcements.

   The next meeting of our group will be a 7:00 pm on April 14, at Healing
   Earth Resources. (The group decided not to change the date, even though
   April 14 is the day before the income-tax filing deadline.)


[] Adjournment.

   The meeting was adjourned at 9:08 pm.