electionline Weekly

In Focus This Week

Opposing Holt Bill, Republicans Offer Their Paper-Trail Alternative
Ehlers says alternative is ‘real and reasonable’ reform

By Dan Seligson
electionline.org

Opponents of a bill that would require all states to use voter-verified paper audit trails with electronic voting machines in time for the next presidential contest this week pushed for the passage of an alternative they say offers “real and reasonable election reform.”

Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., the ranking Republican on the Committee on House Administration, introduced the legislation, H.R. 2360, last week, just as a competing bill sponsored by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., neared a vote on the House floor. It is a slightly modified version of a substitute amendment rejected during the committee’s debate over the leading paper-trail bill earlier this month.

Ehlers’ bill marks a substantial departure from the Holt bill, which was voted out of the House Administration Committee by a six-to-three margin despite unanimous opposition from panel’s Republicans. Holt’s bill requires states that use paperless direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting systems to have a paper-trail option in time for the November 2008 election – a mandate that would have an impact statewide at polling places in Maryland, Louisiana, Georgia, Delaware, South Carolina and Tennessee. Those states employ paperless voting machines and currently have either no requirements or none that would meet the deadline.

Localities in other states, including Texas, Indiana, Iowa and Kansas, would need to modify or replace voting equipment as well.

Ehlers questioned the wisdom of the timetable as well as other requirements of H.R. 811. In a “Dear Colleague” letter issued Monday and signed by the Committee’s Republican members, the newly-released legislation was touted as “real and reasonable election reform,” as opposed Holt’s bill, which they slammed as a “cumbersome monstrosity.

“Unlike H.R. 811, our bill places the responsibility for establishing election standards where it belongs; on elections experts, not politicians,” the letter stated. “We have put together a bill that includes a realistic time frame for states to implement voting equipment and audit requirements, and preserves the valuable gains made by the Help America Vote Act.”

It places the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in charge of establishing verifiability guidelines – paper is not mandated – by 2010 and state compliance by 2012. It also allows state auditors create election audit plans rather than follow a federal prescription. The Holt bill mandates audits of precincts after federal elections except in the case of an electoral blowout or uncontested race

Holt bill supporters, however, said the alternative presented by the committee’s Republicans offer no protection for voters in 2008, and allow far too much leeway to have any teeth.

“The Holt bill sets a standard, a basic floor that can give voters confidence that machine-generated miscounts haven’t altered the outcome of an election,” said Susannah Goodman, director of voting integrity programs at Common Cause. “That’s why the Ehler’s bill is a non-bill. It doesn’t really have any requirements, and that’s why the counties have endorsed it.”

Organizations representing local election officials, including the National Association of Counties (NACo), contend the alternative bill’s requirements and the timetable make more sense.

“It requires that counties comply with standards to be issued by the EAC working with the National Insittute of Standards and Technology. It leaves the decision to them whether paper is the best way,” said Alysoun McLaughlin, NACo’s associate legislative director. “You need time for machines to be manufactured and tested. Now, none of the election technology manufacturers have a product that will satisfy the requirements of the Holt bill.”

While the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Government Reform, no hearings have yet been scheduled.

Legislative Update

News Analysis: Legislative Update

By Sean Greene
electionline.org

With nearly half of state legislative sessions adjourned for the year, a number of bills related to voting technology, voter identification at the polls, the Electoral College and other election administration issues met with varying degrees of success.

electionline.org continues to track these and other pending bills, including some of the more notable legislation below:

Voting equipment
Several states are in the midst of moving away from paperless touch-screen voting systems while nationally election officials anxiously await the fate of a federal bill requiring paper trails for all voting systems.

In mid-May, H.R. 811 was reported out of the Committee on House Administration and sent to the floor for a vote. The bill mandates paper trails for all voting machines by 2008 as well as post-election audits of a certain percentage of votes. Some election officials have expressed concern about the timing and cost of the bill.

This past week, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) signed into law a bill that would scrap nearly all touch-screen voting machines and mandate paper-based optical scan systems statewide.

Last week Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed a bill requiring voting systems have a voter-verifiable paper record, defined as “a paper ballot prepared by the voter for the purpose of being read by a precinct–based optical scanner; a paper ballot prepared by the voter to be mailed to the applicable local board; and a paper ballot created through the use of a ballot marking device.” Currently the state uses paperless Diebold touch-screen voting machines.

A new Virginia law will phase out direct record electronic (DRE) voting systems beginning in July of this year as the machines wear out.

Voter identification at the polls
As the debate over voter fraud and voter ID continues at the national level, the debate at the state level remains as heated as ever.

The Texas legislature has recently been embroiled in a partisan battle about requiring voters to provide photo ID or two alternative non-photo forms of ID at the polls. After ailing Democratic Senator Mario Gallegos came to the Capitol to be sure the bill didn’t move forward, the legislation died on May 23.

In Kansas, legislation mandating most voters under the age of 65 show photo ID at the polls ran out of time in early May. When negotiating the bill, one Republican joined two Democrats in opposing the deal that had been struck, effectively stopping the legislation this session.

In Missouri, where last year a voter ID law was overturned by the state Supreme Court, H.J.R. 38 would have put the question to the voters in 2008, asking to amend the state constitution to require photo ID at the polls. After a public hearing in late April, no further action was taken on the bill and lawmakers stopped considering legislation May 18.

In mid-April, a Tennessee House panel essentially killed a bill that would have required photo ID at the polls by sending it to a study committee.

Proof of citizenship to register
In conjunction with voter ID legislation, some states also introduced bills requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Legislation in Texas requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote as well as verification of citizenship by the county registrar passed the House but has been left pending in a Senate committee.

Other bills requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote did not pass before regular sessions ended in several states, including Colorado, Georgia, Utah and Washington while similar legislation is still pending in Illinois and South Carolina.

National Popular Vote

A nationwide campaign to get states to scrap the Electoral College and award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote has made headway in several states. Maryland became the first state to make this law in early April, while similar bills have advanced in California, Illinois, and North Carolina. A national popular vote bill was vetoed in Hawaii.

Election Day registration
Proponents of same-day voter registration made some headway in both passing new legislation and blocking efforts to repeal the process in one state as well.

In Montana, efforts to repeal election-day registration, which debuted in 2006, were tabled in the Senate.

Iowa became the eighth state to allow Election Day registration when Gov. Chet Culver (D) signed off on the legislation in early April.

Similar legislation failed earlier this year in Washington. However, in April, lawmakers approved legislation that would allow online voter registration.

Other legislation
A number of other election administration issues have also advanced in state houses.

In Vermont, a bill to allow instant run-off voting has passed the Senate and has been taken up by a House committee. Some House members have said that it will not make it to the floor until next year. An Illinois bill would allow overseas voters to use ranked ballots in municipal and township elections.

New Hampshire ended straight-ticket voting.

Felons who have finished their sentences (including parole and probation) will now be able to immediately apply to register to vote in Maryland. Prior to this, the majority of those convicted of felonies had to complete their sentences and go through a three-year waiting period.

Election Reform News This Week

State and local election officials are sometimes at odds with each other over the administration of elections. However, in Utah, state and county officials are banding together in opposition to H.R. 811. Although Utah’s new $27 million voting system does provide a paper record, the paper printouts may not fit the criteria of the Holt bill which says the paper must be “durable.” “We have what looks like cash-register tape,” Arie Van de Graaff, legislative analyst for the Utah Association of Counties to The Salt Lake Tribune. “That would no longer be acceptable in a federal election. All 29 Utah counties have signed a resolution opposing H.R. 811.

While state and local officials in Utah are unified in their opposition to proposed election changes, the same cannot be said for their counterparts in Florida. At a recent meeting of the state’s 67 election supervisors, many expressed their displeasure with the decision to scrap the state’s touch-screen machines. “To go back to a paper ballot system is insane,” Indian River County Supervisor of Elections Kay Clem told the Miami Herald. Secretary of State Kurt Browning, himself a former elections supervisor for 26 years defended the change saying that while he thinks touch-screen systems are reliable and accurate, the public perception is that they are flawed. “We can all stand here and say, ‘We gave in, we caved in, we dropped the ball too soon,’” Browning said. “The fact is it was going to happen.”

There were more comings and goings in elections offices across the country this week. In Monterey County, Calif. new registrar Linda Tulett hit the ground running with preparations for a special election in June. In Massachusetts, Craig A.J. Manseau, Worcester elections chief since 1998, has been offered the same position in the city of Newton. In Clark County, Ohio, the Board of Elections has again asked Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner (D) to step in and break a tie in the vote for the board’s next director. Barbara Colbaugh, a former election administrator in Rhea County, Tenn. who retired in 2002, is running the office again while the Election Commission searches for a new administrator and deputy administrator. And in Montana, after 40 years in the elections field, Deputy of Elections Elaine Graveley is preparing to retire at the end of June.