Paper trail for e-votes back in play

By CARLOS CAMPOS, JAMES SALZER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   09/21/05

Georgians may soon get to see paper evidence of how they voted on electronic machines each election day.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle Tuesday endorsed the idea of providing voters with a paper trail confirming their choices. Among those agreeing was Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox, who had previously opposed the idea.
The issue has simmered since touch-screen voting was introduced statewide in 2002, with some Georgians worrying that there is no proof their votes are being correctly tallied.

Several respected computer security experts have suggested the machines' software can be tampered with to change the outcome of elections. Cox and others have argued that they have security measures in place to prevent such electronic chicanery. Still, academics and activists have suggested that paper receipts verifying a voter's choices would help ease some of that suspicion.

Cox, the state's top elections official, announced Tuesday that her office is working toward such a system.

Also Tuesday, Sen. Bill Stephens (R-Canton), a former Senate majority leader and a candidate next year to replace Cox when she gives up her office to run for governor, told reporters he will seek legislation to move Georgia toward paper receipts in 2006. Stephens' bill will probably be considered when legislators convene in January.

The paper concept was embraced Tuesday by most state leaders, including Gov. Sonny Perdue, House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor.

"It's important to make sure everyone's vote is counted," said Taylor, who is running against Cox in next year's Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan said, "We are very supportive of a paper ballot component."

A paper audit trail might work something like the system in Nevada, where Cox's staff has traveled to observe the process. There, voters cast a ballot by electronic touch screen on a machine similar to Georgia's. Before a voter presses "cast ballot," a paper receipt on a printer wheel appears under glass, listing the voter's choices ? similar to purchases in a grocery store.

If the voter confirms that the choices on the electronic screen match those on the paper receipt, he presses a button and the receipt disappears into a small locked box. If the screen and receipt do not match, the voter can cancel the transaction and try again. Voters would not be allowed to leave the polling place with the receipt. Those receipts can then be counted in the event of a recount or close race.

Nevada runs random audits on its machines to make sure the machines and the paper receipts match.

Stephens' legislation would create a pilot project for paper receipts in three counties: Cobb, Columbia (near Augusta) and Cox's native Decatur (in South Georgia). The pilot would cost about $1 million and would be in place for the 2006 elections, Stephens said at a news conference. If that is successful, Stephens would like to see paper receipts statewide for the 2008 presidential election.

Cox sent out a statement to reporters announcing her support for the receipts shortly before Stephens' scheduled news conference Tuesday morning.

Cox, who pushed the statewide conversion to electronic voting in 2002, has long opposed retrofitting Georgia's 24,000 voting machines with a printer capable of producing paper evidence of a cast ballot. Last year, she said, "It really adds nothing to the system, [and] the people who think it will don't understand the history of voter fraud we've had with paper."

Cox's chief complaint has been that there is no national technological standard for the printers. She worried that Georgia could spend a lot of money on technology that would be declared useless by new federal standards. The cost is estimated at $16 million.

Chris Riggall, her spokesman, said improving technology and developing federal standards led Cox to make the announcement. He said her position evolved as more information became available.

"No, she didn't flip-flop," Riggall said. "If she believed there is no way you'd ever want paper receipts, she wouldn't have had her staff investigating" systems to provide extra verification.

Riggall noted that a commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker recommended paper trails for voting machines nationwide. Cox often has acknowledged the eventuality of a paper trail, particularly given allegations of voter fraud in the past two presidential elections.

Cox has been dogged in the past two years by a small but vocal group of activists opposed to electronic voting, including Forsyth County computer programmer Roxanne Jekot.

Jekot said Tuesday "it's about time" the state went to receipts. But she said the move isn't enough and that paper ballots should be counted as the official tally. "What good does it do to print paper if no one looks at the paper? We have never implemented a system that voters can trust."

House Speaker Richardson voiced support for Stephens' pilot program.

"We think it's important to help restore people's confidence in the electoral system and give them proof that their vote was cast accurately," Richardson said.