VerifiedVoting.Org Delivers Three-Thousand-Signature Letter to Congress Urging Verifiable Paper Ballots in 2004
Thursday March 18, 9:29 am ET
Welcomes Efforts by Senators Graham, Clinton and Boxer to Co-Author Legislation Requiring Paper Audit Trails so Voters can Verify Electronic Votes

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 18 /PRNewswire/ The Senate Rules and Administration Committee and the House Administration Committee are hearing a resounding call this week from VerifiedVoting.org "Support the passage of legislation which properly secures the way that Americans will vote in 2004."

"We've gathered signatures from nearly every state in support of our call- to-action on the committees charged with weighing the merits of H.R. 2239," said Stanford University Computer Science professor David Dill, the founder of VerifiedVoting.org.

"We've urged the committees to acknowledge the tremendous grassroots support for a voter-verified paper trail as detailed in our open letter signed by thirty-five hundred concerned citizens," he said.

"This legislation would not only provide safeguards to protect against electronic voting machine errors, but faced with the kinds of problems that plagued Super Tuesday, it would also ensure a verifiable record of each vote cast in the event of a recount," he added.

"The clock is ticking and we're urging members of Congress to endorse, 'The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003,' introduced in the House by Congressman Rush Holt," Dill said.

"We also applaud Senators Graham, Clinton and Boxer for their unstinting efforts to produce a new Senate bill that combines the best features of their individual bills. If the resulting bill retains the critical provisions of S.1980 while adding the important funding, security, and reporting provisions of the other companion bills, it will secure our elections," he added.

Congressman Holt of New Jersey introduced H.R. 2239 in the House last May. Its companion Senate bill S.1980 was introduced by Senator Bob Graham of Florida.

In addition to bipartisan support from 131 Senators and Representatives, seventy organizations representing about three million members have endorsed the companion bills.

VerifiedVoting.org is a nonprofit organization championing reliable and publicly verifiable elections. Founded by Stanford University Computer Science Professor David Dill, the organization supports a requirement for voter- verified paper trails on electronic voting machines allowing voters to inspect individual permanent records of their ballots and election officials to conduct meaningful recounts as needed. VerifiedVoting.org supports only voting software that is open to public scrutiny.

     CONTACT: David Dill 650-725-3642
              elections@chicory.stanford.edu
              Mark Hopkinson 561-852-5767
              NewsMarkPR@bellsouth.net