Graham, Clinton Introduce Bill to Ensure
Every Vote Counts
Update: The revised legislation described below was filed on April 8, 2004. The bill number is S. 2313.
Senator Bob Graham, D-Florida, and Senator Hillary Clinton, D-New York, today introduced legislation to require that computerized voting systems provide a paper record, ensuring that voters can verify their votes and that a paper record be available in case of a manual recount.
“Even with the new voter systems, in March's primary there were reports of technical glitches and human errors even in Palm Beach County,” said Graham. “A paper trail is a verification system guaranteeing that, even if there are technical glitches or human error in an election, every vote counts.”
“The election this November is going to be one of the most important of our lifetime and every pundit in America says it will be close because we are still so divided,” said Clinton. “If we have huge problems again, people will fundamentally lose confidence in our democracy and in their vote. We cannot let that happen. This legislation is good insurance against that risk.”
The Restore Elector Confidence in Our Representative Democracy (RECORD) Act requires a voter-verifiable paper record so that each and every voter will be able to confirm that his or her vote was accurately cast and recorded. The paper ballot would also be used in the event of a recount.
The legislation also includes funding for implementation. States would receive $150 million to implement the legislation, as well as $5 million to help with the transition to the paper trail system.
In order to assist with implementation of verification systems and improved security measures, the bill provides $5 million to the Election Assistance Commission. Additionally, $2 million would be given to the National Institute of Standards and Technology to help state and local governments with voter verification and the security of electronic voting machines. The Commission must report to Congress within three months of enactment on operational and management systems that should be used in Federal elections and within six months of enactment on a proposed security review and certification process for all voting systems.
The bill would require random recounts of at least 2 percent of all ballots in all jurisdictions in each state and 2 percent of the ballots of military and overseas voters to verify system accuracy.
Mandatory security standards for the development, maintenance, and transfer of software used in electronic voting systems are also included in the legislation.
A similar bill, H. R. 2239, has been filed in the House of Representatives by Representative Rush Holt, D-New Jersey.
http://graham.senate.gov/email.html_______________________________
How long will it take to implement the provisions of S.2313 and are the Republicans keeping this bill from coming up for a vote?
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
