Sign Rush Holt's "Verified Voting" Petition [View All]

Rush Holt:

On February 2, 2005, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 550) was reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. Its goal is simple: to set a national standard of security and independent auditability for our electoral process, and restore confidence in the outcomes of elections. H.R. 550 would require all voting systems to produce an actual paper record that voters themselves can inspect in the voting booth to check the accuracy of their votes, and that election officials can use to verify the accuracy of the vote count. Commonly referred to as a "voter-verified paper record," it is the most effective way to ensure an independent audit and provide voter-verified evidence as to the accuracy (or not) of election results.

MYDD describes it:

The bill would require all voting machines to produce an actual paper record that voters can check to ensure the accuracy of their votes, and that election officials can use to verify the accuracy of the vote count in the event of a computer malfunction, hacking, or other irregularity. It would also call for a percentage of random audits in every state, and at least one in every County, as an automatic check on the reported results.

When Rush Holt first introduced this legislation in May of 2003, a mere handful of states required a paper record for each vote. Now, half of them do, and bills to mandate that security measure are pending in more than a dozen of the remaining states. In September 2005, the Carter Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform issued a recommendation for voter verified paper records, saying:

"Congress should pass a law requiring that all voting machines be equipped with a voter-verifiable paper audit trail and, consistent with HAVA, be fully accessible to voters with disabilities."

Sign the petition here:
http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html