Voting bill clears last legislative hurdle

By NOREEN GILLESPIE?? Associated Press Writer?? June 2, 2005

HARTFORD, Conn. Electronic voting machines will have to create a paper trail backup of computerized votes under legislation that overwhelmingly passed the state House Thursday.

The bill was crafted in response to fears that the new technology was subject to hacking, freezing or otherwise "eating" votes, leaving no way to verify how votes were cast in elections.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell will sign the bill, spokesman Rich Harris said.

"It's essential. There's a lot of mistrust of new technology," said Andy Sauer, executive director of government watchdog group Common Cause, a chief advocate of the bill. "You only need to look at what's happened in Florida and Ohio to worry about voting issues."

Under the legislation, voters will be able to check and correct their votes before they are permanently cast. The computer will create a paper receipt of the vote, but will not include a voter's name or personal information. The paper records could then be used in any recount.

The bill also requires that blind voters have access to a machine with secure audio capabilities so they can verify their vote.

The state is required under the Help America Vote Act, passed after the voting problems in Florida in 2002, to install one computerized voting machine in each of the state's 3,300 polling places by next year.

Connecticut is currently reviewing bids from vendors willing to sell the machines, said Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. The state received $32.5 million in federal funding to pay for the machines.

Bysiewicz applauded the legislation.

"It gives people the confidence that their vote will be counted and their vote will be cast as they intended it," she said.

Some lawmakers questioned if the plan will give voters a false sense of security. There is no guarantee that the machine won't make a mistake and create a flawed paper receipt if it is programmed incorrectly, said state Rep. Robert Farr, R-West Hartford.

"As difficult as it is to try and improve the voting system, it's also important to point out to the public there probably is no perfect system," he said.

Rep. Christopher Caruso, who leads the Government Administration and Elections Committee, said that wouldn't happen, because the voters would be given the chance to double-check their votes first.

The bill also requires the development of a voter guide and would make Web-based campaign ads subject to the same candidate approval as television and radio ads. The legislation also authorizes a study on push polling in campaigns by the Elections Enforcement Commission.