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Protecting the Voter

Friday, August 1, 2003; Page A18

Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) last October to help states replace antiquated and unreliable punch card and lever voting machines. HAVA, however, is fueling a rush by some states including Maryland, Florida and Georgia to buy computer voting machines that have serious defects. As computer scientists at Johns Hopkins University recently reported [Metro, July 25], these new machines are vulnerable to massive fraud.

Unless Congress acts to pass legislation that would ensure that all computer voting machines have a paper record that voters can verify when they cast their ballots, voters and election officials will have no way of knowing whether the computers are counting votes properly.

I have introduced the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 to amend HAVA to require a paper record for all votes cast in federal elections. Under my bill, states must use HAVA funds to purchase computer voting systems that have this minimum standard of voter protection.

We must act to protect the integrity of each and every American vote. Congress still has time to remedy this problem before the next election.

RUSH D. HOLT
U.S. Representative (D-N.J.)
Washington

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