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State
Government Committee to Hold Future Hearing
on Conti
Voter Verification Bill
HARRISBURG -- The
Senate State Government Committee will hold a hearing in January on Senate Bill
977, which amends Pennsylvania's Election Code to require paper verification of
an elector's vote in districts where electronic voting systems are used. The
promise to hold a hearing arose out of an intense hour-long Committee discussion
today that debated the merits of Senator Joe Conti's (R-10) voter-verification bill.
"Our goal is to make the
voting process as transparent as possible," Conti said. "Paper verification of
individual votes would help to ensure the accuracy and safeguard the integrity
of elections."
In an effort to correct the
problems encountered in Florida during the November 2000 elections, Congress
passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in October 2002. Among other things, it
creates standards for all voting systems to be used by the states.
Pennsylvania's County Election Boards are in the process of selecting HAVA-compliant
election machines to use in the upcoming 2006 primary.
Senate Bill 977 would
require electronic voting systems to produce an individual voter-verified paper
record of the elector's vote. Acceptable systems would include paper ballots
read by an optical scan machine or the use of a direct recording electronic (DRE)
voting machine that would allow a person to see their ballot and correct any
errors before their vote is officially recorded.
"In light of all the
problems that were experienced with the touch-screen, or software-based,
election systems during the 2004 election, it only makes sense to have a paper
record, in-hand, for the purposes of verifying that your vote counts," Conti
said.
Senate Bill 977 would also
require each County Board of Elections to conduct a mandatory hand count of 5%
of the precincts participating in the election. The precincts will be selected
by a publicly conducted random drawing. If the county board of elections finds
that there is a discrepancy between the mandatory audit hand count and the
initial vote count, the board of elections may conduct other hand counts at
additional precincts in the county to resolve any concerns and ensure the
accuracy of the results. The county must then publish their findings, plus any
action that they might have taken to resolve any potential discrepancies.
"Nothing is as important as
your right to vote," Conti said. "Our counties have an important decision to
make in the next few months, and I hope my bill will shed light on this
important issue."
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