Contact: Christy Hicks of the Century Foundation, 212-452-7723 or hicks@tcf.org; Daniel Seligson of ELECTIONLINE.ORG, 202-338-9320 or dseligson@electionline.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ Most polling places in Maryland and Georgia have changed drastically since 2000. And as Super Tuesday approaches, the security of voting machines used in both states has been called into serious question, leading voters to wonder whether they can trust the machines they are voting on to accurately count their votes.

"Primary Education: Election Reform and the 2004 Presidential Race," a publication of electionline.org and The Century Foundation, finds that Maryland and Georgia, two of the most pioneering states in post-2000 election changes, now face previously unforeseen questions about the trustworthiness of their state-of-the-art voting systems.

Election reforms have been made nationwide in the wake of the passage of the Help America Vote Act. The bill's central component, a $3.86 billion authorization to states to pay for new voting machines, voter registration databases and other election needs, is accompanied by federal election mandates.

That includes: provisional voting ballots for voters who believe they are registered but whose names are not on registration rolls; voter identification requirements for first- time voters who register by mail and do not include verification with their registration applications; and new machine standards and/or voter education programs to reduce spoiled or uncountable ballots.

Maryland spent $55 million to rid the state of punch cards in favor of a touch-screen voting system produced by Diebold Inc. Georgia has been using the same system since 2002.

"Researchers working both for and outside of the state have questioned the security and integrity of paperless electronic voting in general and these machines in particular," said Dan Seligson, editor of electionline.org and a co-author of the report. "Lawmakers in both states are beginning to do the same, with bills that would require paper trails in conjunction with touch-screen voting."

Tova Wang, senior program officer and democracy fellow of The Century Foundation, and co-author of the report, added: "Voter confidence will be a critical issue in this primary. It is vitally important that regardless of the voting system in place, voters, candidates and election officials trust the results of the election and the equipment that compiled and counted the votes."

"These machines, once pegged as the solution to the problems of punch cards and lever machines, have generated as much suspicion as those older systems did in the 2000 election," Wang said.

The Georgia legislature is considering S.B. 340, a bill that would require voter-verified paper audit trails. Secretary of State Cathy Cox has countered that such a requirement is unnecessary and costly. Numerous security safeguards, she said, prevent the kind of computer mischief that could call in to question the results of an election on the touch-screen machines.

In Maryland, lawmakers will decide whether to implement similar legislation, H.B. 53, that would have an identical requirement for the state's Diebold touch-screen machines.

There have been no reports of widespread problems with the machines in either state.

Primary Education explores the changes to voting procedures - and potential for voting problems in the 22 early primary states that will be the key battlegrounds as the Democratic contenders seek to secure their party's presidential nomination. The report examines the impact of past and possible future litigation; controversies over new voting machines, electronic voting, and voter-verified audit trails; the effect of new mandates in states, including voter identification and provisional voting; and the ramifications of California's gubernatorial recall election, during which a federal court considered delaying the vote because of continued punch-card machine usage around the state. The report also offers examples of misconceptions about election reform.

To read the entire "Primary Education" report, click http://www.electionline.org/site/docs/pdf/Primary %20Education.PDF

To receive a copy of "Primary Education: Election Reform and the 2004 Presidential Race" by mail, email your mailing address to media@electionline.org.