Holt's proposed bill for electronic voting paper trail stalled in House

House Representative Rush Holt (D-N.J.), who represents the twelfth district, introduced legislation in Congress which would make electronic voting more secure and accountable. Although the bill was proposed in May 2003, it has thus far failed to reach the floor for a vote.

Holt's bill, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003, would provide safeguards for electronic voting. It calls for a voter-verified paper audit trail, so each voter can verify on a written copy that the vote has been recorded properly, Holt said.

With the possibility of disputes over voting procedures and another recount after Tuesday's election, Holt's legislation seems especially relevant.

"A relatively new development [in voting] is the introduction of electronic voting machines," Holt explained. "They're clearer, simpler, and easier to use, but they have a central problem — they're totally unverifiable."

When someone votes in districts that use electronic voting machines, that person has no record of the vote or proof that the vote was counted. This causes not only individual doubts, but also national concerns, because a recount is impossible without a way to audit, Holt explained.

Holt's bill aims to prevent this dilemma. It requires electronic voting machines to provide a receipt of each vote, which would then be deposited in a lock-box. These receipts could be used later if a recount was necessary.

The legislation was the first of its kind to be proposed in the House of Representatives. "Most people didn't recognize this was a problem until I brought it up," Holt said.

Although the specific issue of electronic voting had not been addressed before, the uncertainty following the 2000 presidential election demonstrated a need for general voting reform. Electronic voting appeared to be a more desirable alternative because of its ease of use.

"After the problem with the punch-cards, there was a large movement towards this new kind of voting," Holt said. However, he added that in its current state, electronic voting is far from perfect.

His bill would provide safeguards in addition to a paper trail. It would forbid the use of wireless communications in voting systems and it would also mandate inspections for the software, Holt said.

Holt's bill also requires manually recounting the votes from half a percent of all voting machines. "At every election, these machines would be randomly chosen," he said.

Despite Holt's efforts and co-sponsorship from 157 other representatives, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 failed to pass out of the House Committee on House Administration and onto the floor of Congress. As a result, none of Holt's reforms will be implemented, at least in time for Tuesday's election.

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Several Senate bills proposing similar reforms are stagnant as well, Holt said. He explained that they will all expire at the end of this Congress and will need to be reintroduced into the agenda.

The process of passing a piece of legislation such as this requires significant effort, explained Holt. "You try to build support from your colleagues by personal conversation and public persuasion," he said. "Unfortunately, we haven't gotten [this bill] out of committee yet," he added.

Although the bill is stuck in committee, Holt has been active in promoting legislation on education, employee benefits, the environment, health care and gun control, among others.

The electronic voting bill "is just one piece of legislation," Holt said. "It's an important one that's caught a lot of attention."