Agreement reached on bill banning paperless voting

[VenusRising]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-27-2007/0004634433&EDATE=

Agreement Reached to Move Holt Election Reform Bill

PFAW: Best chance to give voters paper trails, confidence in voting in
2008 and beyond

WASHINGTON, July 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer and Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey announced a compromise that
will advance H.R. 811, the "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility
Act of 2007." The bill bans paperless voting machines and requires a
voter-verified paper record for every vote in the country.

"Today's announcement gives Americans renewed hope that Congress will
soon put an end to unaccountable, unverifiable, and inaccessible voting,"
said Ralph G. Neas, president of People For the American Way. "Millions of
voters were disenfranchised in recent elections, and millions of others
have wondered if their votes were correctly counted. That is intolerable.
Given how much is at stake in the coming elections, passing this
legislation should be the nation's top domestic legislative priority."

The Hoyer-Holt compromise to H.R. 811:

-- Ensures that by the 2008 presidential elections there will be a
paper record for all votes cast in federal elections, and makes the paper
ballot the ballot of record for purposes of a recount;

-- Institutes a system of mandatory random audits;

-- Prohibits wireless devices in voting machines;

-- Makes voting system "source code" -- the software that runs the
voting machine -- subject to examination should discrepancies arise;

-- Provides for emergency paper ballots should voting machines break
down or fail in any way.

-- Mandates upgrades to provide durable paper records and enhanced
accessible technology by 2012.

<snip>

"The status quo is unacceptable, and maintaining the status quo in 2008
with this fair and practical solution before us would be inexcusable," Neas
said. "We urge Members of Congress to recognize the 'urgency of now' and
call for swift bipartisan approval in the House of Representatives."


SOURCE People for the American Way


------------------------------

Something has to be done about the voting situation. I hope they can do what is necessary to pass this bill.

[Jensen]

1. K&R

:kick:

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thanks, VenusRising. Hope something can be done by 2008.

Recommended.

[november3rd]

3. This looks catastrophic

It looks like the Microsoft bill, not the voters' bill.

first of all, if all voters get at the DRE is a "paper record" then where does the so-called "paper ballot" for the official recounts come from?

second, this bill legislates the legality of dres.

third, why the restrictions on inspection of source codes? Do those restrictions include WHO may inspect the code (I think they do), and not just "WHEN" the code can be inspected?

This whole thing is a scam job, by the telecoms and DRE companies.

Notice how the title is "voter confidence" and not "vote accuracy" or "honesty."

[IndyOp]

5. The "paper record" is either the voter-marked optical scan ballot -or-

the paper printed by the DRE that the voter can check for accuracy before pushing the "cast final vote" button.

I am not sure I understand your question - "if all voters get at the DRE is a "paper record" then where does the so-called "paper ballot" for the official recounts come from?" Did I answer it with my statement above?

I am strongly in favor of voter-marked optical scan paper ballots -- NOT slips of paper printed by DREs -- but I live in Indiana and I favor some kind of paper record over none at all -- which is what we have now.

[Wilms]

8. Please explain what "legislates the legality of dres" means.

Thanks in advance.

[Beth in VT]

12. I am apoplectic over this.

I gave PFAW a bunch of money because they said election reform is a top priority.

If he (Neas) is going to settle for this he should at least be talking about how it doesn't go far enough, not giving the impression our problems are resolved by this bill.

I am going to let them have it.

[eridani]

16. The important thing to remember is that this bill is a FLOOR, not a ceiling

Nothing in it prevents states and other jurisdictions from instituting even stronger safeguards of election transparency.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Provides for emergency paper ballots

should voting machines break down or fail in any way.

Best solution might be just to spike them early on , with a hammer if necessary and that way it will be all paper votes.

[Fly by night]

6. I prefer the shorter version of your sig line: practice random and senseless acts.

Thanks for your post. I do hope Holt passes -- I belive we need something to change the status quo, despite the feelings of some of my election reform friends who breathe only rarified air.

[Melissa G]

10. Fly, you crack me up

"despite the feelings of some of my election reform friends who breathe only rarified air. "

:rofl:

[Fly by night]

15. Thanks. Holt will help us here in Tennessee, as we are one of six states ...

... that have been identified as having been the biggest dumb-asses in how we spent our HAVA money (over $40 million.) In 93 of our 95 counties, we bought DREs without any form of VVPB or VVPAT (or VVWTF). I know Holt is not perfect, but then neither am I. Fortunately, my dog loves me and democracy will be helped by any form of Holt right now. We can always amend to make it better when negotiating with the Senate before final passage. Unfortunately a veto is very easy to predict for this legislation, but anything we do to put the Chimp and his flying monkey minions on record as haters of democracy is fine with me.

Now back to the garden to breathe some really thick, moist Southern air.

"When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden." Minnie Aumonier

[tbyg52]

7. Paper ballots for recounts is better than nothing

But you don't always get recounts. I'm sure people can, and will, figure out ways to rig the machines that don't trigger recounts.

[Melissa G]

11. They did it in Florida...Just remember to steal big and in too many way to easily prove

the theft in the short time frame given. The Florida approach to avoiding recounts.

[ljm2002]

9. So far, so good...

...although it should use the phrase "voter verified paper ballots" -- we need to understand that the paper records produced by the machines are actually ballots, once they have been approved by the voter; they are what will be recounted when necessary.

Also we need the source code to be open source, examined by the whole community and made available with an MD5 hash. Then one of the audit steps for voting machines would be to run MD5 on the code to verify it is exactly the same code claimed.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. By 2012?

How about enacting it when we need it? How about pushing this through immediately?

[Zodiak]

14. K&R

[flyarm]

17. k&r!!!! yeah!!! eom

[Hippo_Tron]

18. The key is whether the paper trail is voter varified

IMO, if votes are taken on a machine, they should be printed out. If the voter sees that the slip is wrong they should be allowed to change it. They should then take the slip outside of the voting booth and place it in the ballot box with a poll worker looking over the ballot box to make sure that only one slip per voter is put in.

The machines can be used for an initial count in states that aren't going to be close. But if any candidate request a paper count, they should be allowed to have one.