High-tech voting accessory: Paper

Jim Drinkard - 8/9/2005

WASHINGTON — Three years into a national debate over the security and reliability of computerized voting machines, the skeptics are winning.

In the past month, legislatures in five states — Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Oregon — have passed laws requiring computer-based voting machines to produce a paper backup that can be verified by the voter, according to Electionline.org, which monitors voting systems. That brings to 25 the number of states that require a paper trail.

Fourteen other states and the District of Columbia are considering similar legislation. (Graphic: States' paper trails)

Paper printouts could be used to verify the electronic count, or as a fail-safe measure in case a recount is needed.

Advocates of requiring a paper trail say it is a response to voters' concerns about whether their ballots are being accurately tallied. Those concerns, they say, stem from the nation's traumatic experience with the disputed 2000 presidential election in Florida and a continuing close split in the nation's politics.

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The states which do NOT require verifiable paper backups AND who are NOT EVEN CONSIDERING SUCH LEGISLATION:

KENTUCKY - MY STATE!
Wyoming
Nebraska
Oklahoma
North Dakota
Pennsylvania
Louisiana
Alabama
Mississippi
Delaware