Key issues related to voting rights remain on the front burner for some legislators and activists. The following commentators are available for interviews:

BOB KIBRICK
Bob Kibrick, a legislative analyst with Verified Voting, said today: “Multiple election reform bills have been submitted to Congress during the past month. The issues addressed in those bills include uneven and excessively-long wait times for voting, inconsistent treatment of provisional ballots from state to state, the purging of voter registration lists, and restoration of voting rights for ex-felons. … The overlapping and sometimes conflicting provisions of these bills pose a challenge for those interested in election reform because several of these bills contain excellent provisions to address some issues while offering faulty provisions for others. … Election reform certainly remains an urgent issue: roughly 30 percent of the votes cast in the November presidential election produced no paper record that voters or anyone else could use to verify the results.” [Kibrick will be giving a talk titled “Pending Federal Legislation for Electoral Reform” at a conference titled “Election Rigging 101: The First National Teach-in, in Honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.” The event will be held at the First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., in Oakland, California, on February 26, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.] More Information
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LINDA BYRKET
SHERI LEIGH MYERS
Byrket is a filmmaker from Columbus, Ohio, who volunteered with the Election Protection Coalition to video the voting process in Ohio on Election Day. The resulting documentary, “Video the Vote,” has been entered into the Congressional Record, along with “Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio,” a 102-page report by the House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic staff. She said today: “This footage shows thousands of Ohio voters forced to wait in line for hours in the rain and the cold — and how they were turned away, [were] given provisional ballots, or had to leave and could not vote at all. … My experience was that there was great interest in the footage until John Kerry conceded, and only grassroots interest afterwards. However, the problems documented in this documentary did not disappear.” Myers said today: “Once you watch this footage you cannot unwatch it. You know something is wrong with our election system.” Myers is the co-founder of “Citizens Act.” [Bryket’s documentary will be shown at the event mentioned above and at the two-day “Electoral Reform Symposium” that will be held at the Venice United Methodist Church, 1020 Victoria Avenue, Santa Monica, California, on Saturday (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and in The Church at Ocean Park on Second and Hill, Santa Monica, California, on Sunday (2 p.m.- 6 p.m.).] More Information

ZACK KALDVEER
Kaldveer is the communications director for the Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections. He said today: “Civil rights groups, peace organizations, and electoral reform leaders will be gathering in Santa Monica, California, on February 26 and 27 for a two-day symposium to share mounting evidence of election fraud, discuss strategies and the next steps necessary to reform America’s broken electoral system, and educate the press, public, and elected officials regarding the myriad of pitfalls a privatized, corporate controlled, electronic vote counting system poses to America’s democracy. … Filmmakers Linda Byrket, Penny Little, Russell Michaels and Robert Cohen will discuss their groundbreaking documentary films and video footage of November’s Election Day crisis.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167