If you've been to
verifiedvoting.org, or
blackboxvoting.org, and done some reading there, you may already know this stuff. If not, this diary is intended as a vehicle for you to learn more about legislation proposed to enhance and extend the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
HAVA allocated money for states to improve the accuracy and integrity of the voting process. The map on the Verified Voting homepage tells us that 28 out of 50 states still don't have local legislation to wisely spend the money set aside by HAVA.
There's been legislation introduced at the federal level to fix the problem...
There are bills proposed in both the house and the senate, though as is usually the case in congress, some are thorough and would help achieve the ends we want - fair and trustworthy elections, others are a smokescreen.
Here's the breakdown:
- H.R. 550: Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2005
Requires a voter verifiable paper record, provides for audits, prevents "undisclosed" software use, funding included.
The gold standard. This is the one we want passed.
- H.R. 704 and S. 330: Voting Integrity and Verification Act of 2005 - identical
Establishes a voter verifiable paper record requirement and mandates that this receipt is the ballot of record in the case of any audits or recounts. No funding or auditing language included.
The best bill available in the senate, H.R. 550 is stronger.
- H.R. 939 and S. 450: Count Every Vote Act of 2005 - identical
Requires a voter verifiable paper ballot, makes it the ballot of record in all recounts and audits, mandates a recount in 2% of precincts using the paper ballots. Requires audio and pictoral records for disabled voters.
This isn't a weak bill, but there are worries about implementation timelines because of the disabed voter enabling language. Something like this should definitely happen once we have a fraudproof system in place, until then it could slow down deployment of anything.
- H.R. 533 and S. 17: Voting Opportunity and Technology Enchancement Rights Act of 2005 - bills are significanty different
Both call for an "independent means" of verifying ballots - paper, audio, or pictoral. Requires "an electronic record for other means" for disabled voters. Require the Election Assistance Commission to establish uniform standards.
Both are weak bills, though H.R. 533 is the better of the two. To be fair, the verified voting part is just one piece of their aim, but they are too vague and would certainly be gamed and require further amendment to fix.
- H.R. 278
Provides for a voter verifiable paper record.
No audits, random recounts, or funding, and the paper record produced isn't even that vote that counts if there's a dispute. A disaster.
Frankly though, the fact that none of this legislation has been enacted isn't an accident. And since states like Florida and Pennsylvania have no legislation on the books, unless we can put pressure on our state legislatures to pass strong laws making voter verified paper ballots both available and creating additional safeguards, there will continue to be a cloud over the election process in this country.
Find out more about legislation affecting the voting process.