2007 Legislation Update
Del. Sheila Hixson (Dist. 20) introduced HB18 in early January. This bill was substantively
similar to the bill she introduced last year and passed the House
unanimously. The bill has since been amended.
As amended, the House bill
makes the voting system change effective in time for the 2010 election
season, presuming that the Governor funds the necessary equipment
purchase in his next fiscal budget. Most importantly, HB18 would treat
the paper ballot as the official record of your vote for mandatory
audits and any recounts. It is not a perfect bill, but it is a good
compromise and provides for substantive voter verification, audits, and
recounts. Therefore, we support HB18. It passed the House
unanimously again on March 18, 2007.
Senator Edward Kasemeyer (Dist. 12) introduced SB392, which is the Senate companion bill. It
contained improved language over HB18 as originally filed. It would
have required our voting system to maintain an independent method
to mark our ballot from the machines designated to tabulate our vote.
It made the paper ballot the official record for a mandatory audit and
for any recounts. It also contained disability
language that adequately ensures that disabled voters continue to vote
secretly, independently and with the ability to verify their vote
through audio or other means. Unfortunately, the EHEA Committee proposed
amendments to the bill that gutted all the major components of
a voter-verified paper audit trail system on March 19. Thanks to
efforts by TrueVoteMD members and others, the EHEA did not pass
those amendments. However, on March 23, the EHEA passed SB392 with amendments
that were only a cosmetic change from the ones introduced on
March 19. These amendments do not require voter-verification, do not
make the paper ballot the official record of your vote, and does not
require any audits. TrueVoteMD does not support these amendments.
Senate EHEA Committee recommitted the bill back to the Committee
instead of allowing the bill to come to the Senate for a floor vote.
They are currently considering the following amendments (as of April 4,
2007, 4pm). Click here
to read these proposed amendments. The Committee eventually passed
these
amendments.
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