Make election safeguards passed in N.Y. law of the land across U.S.

Avery Beer
Guest essayist    Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

(July 12, 2005) ? Last month, I was among about 250 citizens from across the nation who lobbied for the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2005 (HR 550), legislation that would mandate a voter-verifiable paper trail on all new electronic voting machines across the country. Most of us had never before been in the office buildings of our representatives, let alone done any lobbying. But we felt an urgency to have our voices heard with regard to an issue that we feel goes right to the core of our democracy ? the integrity of our voting process.

Prior to the 2004 election, Congress did pass much needed legislation to improve and streamline elections, the Help America Vote Act. But despite HAVA's improvements, the 2004 election, and in particular the widespread use of new electronic machines, revealed clearly where this legislation fell short. The majority of states using the new machines had no mandated voter-verifiable paper trail, and so no possible way to monitor for machine malfunction during the election or if necessary to perform an audit afterward. In fact, as has been painfully revealed since, there apparently was extensive machine malfunction as documented by various discrepancies (e.g., differences in machine totals from the number of registered voters in given precincts, etc.). In close elections, such discrepancies can influence outcomes. And worse still, the credibility of the whole process is cast in doubt.

For these reasons, many of us felt there is no more critical piece of our democracy to attend to at this time than correcting these oversights. We must be able to trust the basic process by which our elections are conducted. A coalition of organizations headed by Common Cause organized the lobbying blitz.

Our message was short and clear: voter confidence in our election process must be restored and protected, and the best vehicle for this is draft legislation HR 550, which:

Mandates a permanent voter-verified paper record (that could serve as the basis of an audit when necessary).

Enhances security for systems used by voters with disabilities.

Bans the use of undisclosed software or concealed communications devices.

Requires random, unannounced hand-count audits in 2 percent of precincts.

Requires manufacturers and election officials to document a chain of custody for the handling of software.

Prohibits political and financial conflict of interest between manufacturers and political parties.

Recently the New York state Legislature did pass the Election Reform and Modernization Act of 2005, which requires a voter-verifiable paper record and random audits. However, this does not make HR 550 superfluous. Without national legislation to mandate standards across all states, national elections could still be cast in doubt.

We urge our fellow citizens to join us in insisting that Congress adopt this much-needed legislation.