March 23, 2009

Congressman Rush Holt has authored a new version of the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act” which will be introduced soon. A copy of the final draft is attached.

VotersUnite! commends the Congressman for the many improvements included in this year’s version, and we supported it in its initial form. However, during the finalization process, a provision was added that has caused us to withdraw our support.

Assuming the final draft does not change before introduction, the bill would require a non-tabulating ballot-marking device (BMD) in each polling place that “allows the voter to privately and independently verify and cast the permanent paper ballot without requiring the voter to manually handle the paper ballot.” (Page 9, lines 11 through 14.)

According to Noel Runyan, accessibility expert and advocate for accessible voting, independence in casting (depositing) the ballot is unnecessary for the privacy of the vote. In his report on “Improving Access to Voting” he writes:

“Independence is not essential to guaranteeing privacy before a voter starts marking their ballot. Independence is required to assure privacy during the process of marking the ballot but is not essential for guaranteeing privacy after the ballot has been deposited into, and protected by, a privacy sleeve.”

http://voteraction.org/files/Improving_Access_to_Voting.pdf

The ramifications of this added accessibility requirement are significant for every jurisdiction in the country. Every jurisdiction would have to replace its accessible equipment by 2016.

The only vendor that advertises a system with the “autocast” feature is ES&S, though the machine is not yet in use and has not yet been submitted to the EAC for certification. With a federal mandate for equipment currently developed by only one vendor, it is hard to predict how much the vendor will charge for the machine, the software, the support, and the licensing. The bill simply allocates “such sums as may be necessary.”

On the following two pages is 1) a summary of the timeline of equipment replacement and the funding provided for each phase, developed through conversations with Congressman Holt’s office, and 2) a diagram showing the same information in abbreviated form.

Read the rest of this letter by CLICKING HERE