Legislation mandating a paper record to verify voting in Maryland is gaining momentum in the General Assembly, which might join a national movement to make touch-screen voting more reliable and tamper-proof.

A top House Democrat from Montgomery County introduced a bill yesterday that would require paper records to back up every vote cast in the state. Maryland, one of the first states to buy touch-screen machines after the disputed presidential election in 2000, would have to retrofit them to produce a paper trail or return to optical-scan ballots where voters mark the choices on paper.

PRINCE GEORGE'S VOTING

Two-Thirds of Precincts Were Short on Machines Only one-third of voting precincts in Prince George's County were provided with as many voting machines as required by law on Election Day, a failure that might have caused long lines that frustrated many residents, a state analysis has concluded.

"A majority of people in Maryland support this," said Del. Sheila E. Hixson, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, referring to a public opinion poll conducted by the University of Maryland last year. "We want this to be the first bill of the session to say, 'We hear you.' "

Hixson sponsored an identical bill last year that unanimously cleared the House but stalled in the Senate over concerns that the changes could not be in place in time for the November election.

With two years before another statewide election, a federal panel urging national standards on verifying votes, and voters in Montgomery and Prince George's counties roiled by problems with the electronic machines last fall, Hixson and Senate sources said the proposal is quickly gaining support in both chambers of the General Assembly.

"We have to look at which is the best way to do it and what the price tag is going to be," House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said.

Changes would probably be expensive.

Maryland's early adoption of touch-screen machines -- for more than $100 million in federal and state money -- has left the state with an early technology that cannot be retrofitted easily, budget officials said. And it is unclear whether the federal government will give more money to pay for newer machines or optical screens.

Hixson was not sure how much either change would cost but said the money would be well spent. "The security of your vote is beyond the cost of the machines."

Maryland would join 27 states that have mandated changes to resolve concerns about tampering and the reliability of the electronic voting systems used in most of the country. Maryland is one of five states that use electronic voting systems exclusively, offering no way to verify an election result. Virginia and the District use such machines in some jurisdictions or allow voters to choose a paper or electronic system.

Some have dropped touch-screen machines altogether. Advocates predict that by the 2008 presidential election, congressional or state action will result in a paper trail for voters.

"Here we are deciding who's going to govern us, and there's no way to know if my vote for Candidate X was recorded properly," said Shazia N. Anwar, director of TrueVoteMD of Montgomery County, one of several advocacy groups lining up behind the effort.

Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley (D) has expressed support for the idea and asked members of his transition team to review it.

Since touch-screen machines were introduced throughout the country after the 2000 election, concerns have grown in Maryland and other states that in a close election, poll workers have no way to conduct a recount or check for malfunctions. In Anne Arundel County this fall, a recount was conducted by hand in a House race, but that involved absentee ballots.

Vote counting was slowed in the November election by a crush at the polls at closing time in Prince George's County that overwhelmed some precincts, which had too few machines to handle the turnout. During the September primary, the electronic poll books used to check in voters crashed in Prince George' s and Montgomery. And in Montgomery, officials forgot to deliver the plastic automated cards needed to operate the touch-screen machines.

Advocates for a paper trail were buoyed by last month's recommendations of a federal panel that advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Officials with the National Institute of Standards and Technology said paperless voting machines cannot be made secure and advised election officials to endorse optical-scan systems or require electronic systems to print a paper summary of voting.