Regarding the article, "Voting Machine Program Launched," July 27, for new electronic machines, but what are the effects on the heartbeat of our democracy—our vote, that belongs to us?

Government bureaucracies were persuaded to accept touch-screen machines, resulting in no checks and balances; now we don't know if votes are deleted, or miscounted.

In the absence of a voter-verified paper record, votes cannot be audited like a bank's records.

The chosen electronic machine's internal paper record doesn't provide voter verification.

Lever machines, with their mechanical simplicity, hadn't the potential to distort votes on a massive scale, as with electronic machines.

Unfortunately, a solution, the Pennsylvania State-certified optical scanner/ballot marker for the handicapped, with its valued voter-verified ballot, didn't seem to be aggressively promoted and was rejected in many counties, including Bucks.

Electronic machines' lack of reliability, security and accuracy is receiving national attention. See Lou Dobbs' current CNN series, "Democracy at Risk," see the Brennan Center for Justice and Common Cause's recent reports, and the Federal Government Accountability Office Report. See Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s whistleblower lawsuit against electronic touch-screen machines. The Web site www.CoalitionforVotingIntegrity.org has reports.

It's your vote. Protect it. Vote in overwhelming numbers Nov. 7. Request absentee ballots if you are out of town or homebound. Contact your party to become a poll watcher and report any voter distress with a machine.

Volunteer on new projects by e-mailing VotingIntegrity@aol.com.

Meet us at the Middletown Grange Fair Aug. 16-20.

Ruth Matheny

Doylestown