Vote paper trail gains support
Concern over fraud cities

By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/08/05

It's probably a question of when ? not whether ? Georgia's 24,000 electronic voting machines will produce a paper record of a voter's ballot.

Two lawmakers, one in the House and one in the Senate, have introduced legislation requiring that the machines be outfitted with a voter-verified paper audit trail.
The paper record, produced by a printer, would allow voters to review the ions they make on the machine's touch screen before casting a final ballot. The paper record would into a locked box, so voters would not be able to take it with them.

Supports of the paper record say it's necessary to make certain the machines are accurately recording votes and to quell concerns that they could be rigged to manipulate elections.

Secretary of State Cathy Cox has resisted adding a paper trail, arguing that no federal technical standards for such a system exist. She also says hard-copy records have been a source of election fraud for decades.

Last year, Cox successfully beat back legislative efforts to outfit the machines with printers. But the drumbeat for a paper trail is growing louder.

Sen. Vincent Fort, a Democrat from Atlanta, and Rep. Tim Bearden, a Republican from Villa Rica, have introduced bills in the House and Senate. More importantly, leaders in both chambers also are expressing support for a paper record.

"We ought to do everything in our power that we can reasonably afford to let people know the process is not flawed and that their vote is counted," said House Speaker Glenn Richardson. He said money is the only obstacle, noting that the addition could cost up to $17 million.

Sen. Bill Stephens (R-Canton), a potential candidate for secretary of state next year, said he plans to introduce legislation later this week requiring a paper trail. "I think the absolute credibility and accuracy of votes cast is essential to voters having confidence in the system," Stephens said.

Chris Riggall, a spokesman for Cox, said that in addition to the cost, there are also questions of "exactly how the receipts will be created, reviewed and used."

"We have to resolve questions like: What is the official record of the election, the paper or electronic tally?" Riggall said. "How do we assure the secrecy and the anonymity of the ballot so the paper record cannot be tied back to the individual voter? We also have to figure out how to properly accommodate the needs of the blind and visually impaired voters, who are unable to review a paper ballot, since the system we currently have is perfectly tailored to their needs."

Meg Smothers, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Georgia, agreed that the technology for a paper trail hasn't yet matured enough to address critical questions.

"While a paper receipt might sound good in theory, it is definitely not yet good in practice," Smothers said.

Meanwhile, a grass-roots group of computer programmers, political activists and others is pushing for a more comprehensive law they've dubbed "The Georgia Vote Count Protection Act." The proposed legislation, which has yet to find a sponsor, would require a paper record and require that the paper ballots be counted in public at each voting precinct.

"We want the voter to be able to verify that the voting machine recorded and counted the vote the way they intended," said Garland Favorito, a leader of the Voter Choice Coalition. "That's what this whole thing is about."

Bearden said he had spoken with representatives of the Voter Choice Coalition and Defenders of Democracy, groups working together for changes in elections. Counting paper ballots at the precinct level would be difficult to implement, Bearden said.

"I understand the concept," he said of their proposed legislation. "But I don't think it's manageable."