Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550)

Via EFF.org -

On Election Day 2006, many Virginians were among the millions of voters nationwide who cast their votes on electronic machines that lack paper trails. Voters thus could not verify that their votes were accurately recorded, and election officials will not be able to conduct a full and thorough recount.

That's bad enough, and with the close margin in Virginia's Senate race and the U.S. Senate at stake, it is especially tragic for the entire country, regardless of whom is ultimately declared the winner. Simple precautions could have been taken to prevent this and myriad other e-voting problems. Indeed, Montana fortunately requires a paper trail, which could aid a recount in its tight Senate race.

Thankfully, there's an existing solution for the whole country: Rep. Rush Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550) contains several critically important election reforms, including the requirement of a paper audit trail for all electronic voting machines, random audits, and public availability of all code used in elections. The bill has gained the support of 220 bipartisan cosponsors, and, according to Holt, it even has a chance to pass before the next Congress takes office in January.

---

Via rushholt.com -

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 550) will:

• Mandate a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast in every federal election, nationwide; because the voter verified paper record is the only one verified by the voters themselves, rather than by the machines, it will serve as the vote of record in any case of inconsistency with electronic records;
• Protect the accessibility requirements of the Help America Vote Act for voters with disabilities;
• Require random, unannounced, hand-count audits of actual election results in every state, and in each county, for every Federal election;
• Prohibit the use of undisclosed software and wireless and concealed communications devices and internet connections in voting machines;
• Provide Federal funding to pay for implementation of voter-verified paper balloting; and
• Require full implementation by the 2006 elections