E-Voting

The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed partially due to the concerns
about obsolete or unreliable voting machines as demonstrated in Florida in
2000. As a result, many parts of the United States are moving this year to
more advanced electronic voting machines. Significant concerns have been
raised by both the major political parties, and citizen activists, over the
lack of auditability of voting records in 2004, n part due to the absence
of paper trails for use in audits and recounts. It was noted in a NY Times
article earlier this year that Nevada's protective regulations of the
gaming industry, in particular slot machines, are stricter than federal and
state regulations under which we elect our leaders. AITP's legislative
committee, supported by the Board of Directors, drafted a proposal based
primarily on the Nevada gaming industry regulations as a starting point for
ensuring that future American elections are demonstrably untainted by
concerns over electoral fraud. The resolution we passed is as follows:

Whereas, citizen reliance on fair elections with accurate, verifiable
results are an essential part of our democratic process, and
whereas, many states are currently moving to electronic voting to speed and
ease the process, and
whereas, there are not currently federal standards in place to ensure the
accuracy of the results from electronic voting,

therefor, AITP calls on the federal government to adopt national standards
with the following provisions:

1. Public access to the related software to permit independent inspection
and confidence in its accuracy.
2. Independent testing, including random spot checks similar to existing
Nevada provisions for slot machine testing.
3. meticulous, constantly updated standards for machines.
4. Scrutiny of manufacturers to ensure their independence from parties and
candidates.
5. An independent testing lab with an arms-length relationship with the
manufacturers it polices, and open to inquiries from the public
6. A mechanism for immediate election day inspection of suspected defective
machines
7. A mechanism for voter review of paper copies of ballots prior to casting
a vote, and preservation of those ballots for any required recounts
8. An alternative voting mechanism such as early postal balloting for those
who refuse to trust the machines
9. Provide for random but thorough election day parallel testing of voting
machines.