Today, while Congress listens to the latest spin from the Bush Administration on "democracy building" in Iraq, an important pro-democracy effort continues to be waged at home by Representative Rush Holt. In January I wrote about his Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008 (HR-5036). Last week, the House of Representatives Committee on House Administration approved the bill without opposition. Now it's up to Leadership to bring it to the floor for a vote.

Currently, six states and a number of counties in 14 other states will be conducting completely unauditable elections in 2008. Shockingly, only about a dozen states will conduct audits. Holt's bill would reimburse jurisdictions that choose to implement voter-verified paper trails; help states move to an entirely paper-based system; and/or provide funding for audits of election returns.

The alternative? How many lessons do we need? The 2000 debacle alone should be enough to show the need for these changes. Want more? How about 2006, when 18,000 votes were lost by electronic voting machines in Florida's 13th Congressional District – in a contest decided by less than 400 votes. As a New York Times editorial put it, "The flaws of electronic voting machines have been thoroughly documented by academic studies and by voters' experiences. The machines are far too vulnerable to hacking that could change the outcomes of elections. They are also so prone to mechanical error and breakdown that there is no way to be sure that the totals they report are correct. In some cases, these machines have been known to "flip" votes -- award votes cast for one candidate to an opponent. The solution is for all votes to be recorded on paper records."

Holt's office believes the legislation will be brought to the floor in the next week or so. They are also optimistic about companion legislation in the Senate. But, as Holt said, "Time is of the essence to pass this bill. We need to make sure states have the opportunity to take advantage of the equipment conversion opt-in reimbursements, in addition to the audit reimbursements. We need to ensure that we protect our citizens' right to vote and assure them that their vote can be independently proven to have been counted accurately."

Let your representatives in Congress know – the time to protect democracy at home is right now.

Comments (20)

1. I live in a county where all votes are by mail. There are no polling stations anywhere, you can vote in the privacy of your own house, and any ballot postmarked by the election is considered valid. As far as I know fraud is virtually non-existent and our example is seriously being explored by the rest of the state. But the best part: no electronic voting machines and all the ballots go to the auditor, so accountability exists in only a very few sources. It's been a great system that works very efficiently. And inexpensively.

   Posted by yutsano at 04/08/2008 @ 6:51pm

2. In keeping with KVH's last several posts, I think it should be done the same way Finland does it. I have no idea how they do it, but it must be the right way.

   Posted by sntauri at 04/08/2008 @ 6:57pm

3. I will email my senators; Susan Collins an Olimpia Snow to support hr 5036. If the stores can give us a receipt for every sale item identified our government should be able to do the same.

   Posted by julien38 at 04/08/2008 @ 7:56pm

4. I'll vote for such a bill. Anything that helps keep better track of results from systems run by the current leadership has gotta be a good thing. The past two national and the last Maryland state election bear this out.

   Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 04/09/2008 @ 08:54am

5. The only logical conclusion my mind can determine is simply this. No secret ballots. We ask our brave men and women to fight even until the death for our country. Now the brave men and women citizen soldiers need to simply have their name beside the candidate they voted for. It ends discussion. Those of the land of the free and the brave; stand up and be counted. End secret ballots. A nationwide referendum, with peoples names visible, to end secret ballots or not. Be brave United Statians, stand by your ....vote. To get the country back in the peoples hands; this is the simplest method to overcome all the bias, cheating, stealing and corrupting of the will of the people. Secrecy means deception, deception against "we the people."

   Posted by jackpaulden at 04/09/2008 @ 09:49am

6. Hello, I agree we should be able to have a paper trail for all of our votes. In addition, we should also have a identity trail prior to our vote much like having to show your ID when you purchase an item with a check, credit card, or debit card. What do you think KVH? Respectfully, Westley Anson "Who is John Galt?"

   Posted by westleyanson at 04/09/2008 @ 09:51am

7. The number of precincts in New York, especially in Harlem, that showed NO votes for Obama is also very suspicious, and lends credence to KVH's point that paper trails are absolutely necessary!

   Posted by Metteyya at 04/09/2008 @ 2:04pm

8. I agree.

   Yes, the Government should be required to provide some kind of controls like the scanners at the grocer. It shouldn't cost more than a few million dollars for each county.

   No secret ballots. Absolutely. This would be even better than our labor union at work currently does with merely contesting votes of known dissenters and throwing them out of the ballot. (It really does keep things running smoothly.)

   Also, some form of ID to show proof of identity. Driver's licenses are obviously too easy to fake. SS numbers get stolen and are not legal to us as ID (even though it's done all the time).

   If this is happening in gentrified Harlem, then we obviously need to establish better metrics to identify black voters.

   Clearly we need to have better control over this.

   Retina scans and fingerprints? Subdermal chips? Bridge cards?

   How soon can we provide more funding for FEC? How can we control the integrity of the additional people that will have to be hired to oversee it?

   On a side note: We should also mandate self sealing tires on the "get out the vote" vans to stop election fraud and manipulation via vandalism.

   Posted by nighthawk750 at 04/09/2008 @ 7:47pm

9. I don't understand and I never have understood the secret ballot. Democracy shouldn't be a secret. How about this; a print out in duplicate, one hard copy for the box one for the voter? The candidates are not running in secret, we should have the courage of our votes.

   Posted by julien38 at 04/09/2008 @ 9:22pm

10. Of course, there's no way that my ballot can be absolutely secret. Some election official has to count it, and it would be a good idea for this count to be verified.

    But if I lived in a small town in Texas and voted for a candidate who favored equal rights for gays and lesbians, I'd want my vote to be kept secret, thank you.

    Posted by JakobFabian at 04/09/2008 @ 10:20pm

11. Posted by JAKOBFABIAN 04/09/2008 @ 10:20pm

    I mean, it is still secret, because they can't tell whose is whose.

    But on the "small town in Texas point"...exactly. This is part of why we have secret ballots. Not having secret ballots is retarded and awful for a labor union, and though it's probably not quite as perverse for a democratic system overall, it's still a bad idea.

    So what's the argument for this, exactly? "We should stand behind our votes!" Yeah, that's not at all compelling. In fact, it has some pretty entertaining implications. For instance: maybe we should all have to line up at the mall, one at a time, and yell: "I voted for [insert candidate name here]!" Seriously.

    Also...here's the other kicker. The few times when it would be beneficial (like small towns, where you can actually expect to maybe check people's information retrospectively) are also the times when the secret ballot is most important. So no...absolutely don't abolish it. Seriously, why would you do this?

    Posted by Thrawn at 04/09/2008 @ 11:03pm

12. These two dinosaur parties Must come into compliance with the Principles of a Democracy. Standard Rules & Regs governing their nomination Process's is a MUST. In addition there is No Longer anyreason to drag out the Primary Process. All States vote on THe same day- all Candidates are availble for all States consideration. The Process of elimiation used by these parties flies in the face of Democracy. Not to mention Only voting Citizens should be able to contribute to any campaign-Inc's can't vote therefore they can not contribute. time to put a bit & Bridle on this election Process- It's been running out of control for far too long. "popular Vote ' IS the only Democratic Process.

    Posted by Purple girl at 04/10/2008 @ 05:57am

13. We need paper ballots, not paper trails... paper trails on touchscreen machines were shown to fail in '06, the vote is still electronic, which is hidden from the voter. With paper ballots and electronic scanners, there can be an accurate random audit which can expand into a complete audit if descrepancies appear. Rush Holt's previous bill failed due to that flaw. Check with Votersunite.org and bradblog for details.

    Posted by diafos at 04/10/2008 @ 3:38pm

14. Hey Katrina, can we do it like this?

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/FOREI GN/330592049/1001

    Posted by nighthawk750 at 04/10/2008 @ 8:25pm

15. up here in my primitive country you vote with a pencil and a piece of paper.

    next.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 04/10/2008 @ 10:28pm

16. Paper ballots not paper trails of electronic ballots. Simple and foolproof. Also, as to eliminating the secret ballot or vote by mail, go to your neighborhood battered women's shelter and ask any of them if their true vote would be counted by either of these means.

    Posted by freedomjunkie at 04/11/2008 @ 2:32pm

17. Katrina:

    I have just e-mailed our Congressmen/women here in Maine. Thank you for having provided the voter with this rare opportunity to express our concern regarding the verification of votes cast in the upcoming national presidential election. We are concerned that given ther scenarios of the past two national elections, that there might be problems again if votes in every state cannot be audited properly. I am a new subscriber to your magazine and I look forward to receiving my first issue. I have already enjoyed reading you and your staff's articles on line. My husband and I want to congratulate you on the great work you are doing as a journalist and as a frequent contributor to major news and cable networks, as well. Your perspective is greatly appreciated and is not lost on a vast majority of viewers. By the way, we thought you did a superb job on Sunday on "This Week..." Know that your base will grow in the months and years ahead! retired p in maine

    Posted by Paula Jean at 04/11/2008 @ 3:57pm

18. Read "Fooled Again" by Mark Crispin Miller or "Blackbox voting". Blackbox Voting is available for reading on line at Blackboxvoting [blackboxvoting.org]

    Posted by Stevebremne at 04/12/2008 @ 09:51am

19. Thank you, Katrina, for providing the easy link to allow for active e-mail (ironically "small-d" democratic grassroots) support for the needed Holt bill.

    Posted by lewwelge at 04/14/2008 @ 09:16am

20. May I suggest that all of our elected representatives who favor no paper trail voting machines sign up publicly to forgo any and all personal bank statements, credit card statements, receipts, etc. Lets see how deep their commitment to this issue goes. Our right to have our vote cast accurately is the most fundamental of our rights in this democracy, and must be defended voraciously.

    Posted by L Lindsey at 04/14/2008 @ 10:40am