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Groups Urge Rapid Action on Paper Trail |
Urge Senate to Pass New Paper
Trail Bill; Urge House to Enact Before Session Ends
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 6, 2007
CONTACTS:
· Shazia Anwar 301-270-6150, Director,
TrueVoteMD.org (Takoma Park)
· Robert Ferraro 301-661-2989, Co-Director,
SAVEourVotes.org (Columbia)
After “recommitting” the bill last week, the Senate Education, Health
and Environmental Affairs (EHEA) Committee successfully submitted a
newly amended paper trail bill to the Senate Thursday. The new SB392 is
likely to pass the full Senate today.
These new amendments remove the possibility of the State Board of
Election certifying an electronic verification system, a move that
election integrity activists see as critical. “We could not allow the
previous bill to go forward with that option,” said Shazia Anwar,
Director of TrueVoteMD, an election integrity group with over 3000
members statewide. “We can live with these amendments.”
The new amendments ensure that any new voting system certified for use
must include a voter verified paper record. These changes would require
an optically scannable paper ballot marked by hand or with the help of
an assistive marking device.
“We are delighted that the Senate is now listening to the two-thirds of
Maryland voters who want a paper trail when they vote,” said Shelley
Fudge, Co-director of SAVEourVotes. “This bill would not only secure
our elections, but would also significantly reduce the expense of
operating them, which is critical with our current budget deficit.
Studies have shown that operating costs for optical scanning equipment
are 30% to 40% lower than for our current touchscreen machines.”
Both groups had urged passage of HB18 as amended, which passed the
House unanimously on March 18 and crossed over before the deadline,
because it contained three essential components: 1) required
voter verifiability; 2) made the paper ballot the official vote record
for audits and recounts; 3) required mandatory audits of election
results to confirm accuracy.
“We hope the House of Delegates quickly resolves the discrepancies
between SB392 and HB18 if the Senate bill passes today,” said Ms.
Anwar. “Maryland needs this legislation in place if the Governor has to
find a way to fund it in time for 2010.”
Both groups stressed that both HB18 and the current SB392 reflect a
significant but acceptable compromise between the legislature,
concerned about a growing fiscal deficit, and election integrity
activists. The compromise includes delaying new system implementation
until 2010 (instead of in time for the 2008 Presidential election) and
making implementation null and void unless funded in the Governor’s
budget next year.
“With only three days left in this session, there are still many hoops
that this legislation must go through in order for the bill to reach
the Governor’s desk for his signature,” said Ms. Anwar in a statement
to the group’s members. “We urge all citizens concerned about
protecting our voting rights to tell their legislators to support the
current paper trail bills.”
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