A small but vocal contingent of fiscal conservatives have responded to the unwarranted complaints of elections officials about the potential of an unfunded mandate for the voting system security requirements proposed in The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007 (HR 811). Still smarting from the previous Congress’ unwillingness to fully fund the Help America Vote Act of 2002, county clerks and Secretaries of State have been skeptical that Congress will actually come through with the $1.1 Billion authorized in the bill.

However, tying HR 811’s mandate to appropriations would set a dangerous precedent for eliminating the civil rights exemption in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA).¹ In enacting the reform measure, Congress recognized that the protection of civil rights superseded vagaries of funding allocations.

HR 811 fully funds the voting system requirements in the bill with more than $1 billion, and authorizes more funding for the audit requirements ($100 million annually) than the Congressional Budget Office deemed necessary ($50 to $60 million).  In addition, as confirmed by the text of HR 811’s CBO Score, “All provisions of H.R. 811 would be excluded from the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.”²

Leadership and the Appropriations Committee should calm the fears of election officials and their representatives in Congress by publicly committing to fully fund HR 811.

This article was published at AlterNet and is reposted here with permission of the author.

The House is expected to vote on a bill regulating electronic voting machines for the first time this week. However, it is unclear if the Democratic leadership will allow debate on a key amendment to limit the controversial touch-screen voting equipment to one machine per precinct.

"I don't have an answer for you," Nadeam Elshami, deputy communications director for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said late Friday, when asked whether Democratic leaders will allow the amendment proposed by Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., to come before the House. "I have no way of knowing. This is a comprehensive bill. This is a process that is moving."

The bill, H.R. 811, or the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007, would regulate electronic voting systems for the first time by imposing new security, vote verification and audit requirements for their use. The bill would not ban paperless voting machines as many election integrity activists have wanted, but require a paper printout of each vote cast to be reviewed by voters before being electronically counted.

Whether the "direct recording electronic" (DRE) voting systems and that paper trail can be trusted has been a focus of debate surrounding the bill since it was introduced last winter. However as H.R. 811 has moved through committees, there have been recent developments outside Washington that bolster critics who say DRE systems are too insecure and unreliable for use in elections.

Click here for Myths and Facts About HR 811

Why HR811?

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007 (HR811) would benefit the integrity and security of US elections by requiring independent manual audits of the accuracy of Federal election outcomes, checking the machine counts.  The bill allows States to adopt alternative methods of recounts and audits for Federal elections as long as NIST approves the alternative methodology.  There is ample time for states using paperless voting systems to implement auditable voting systems by November 2008. Historically it has taken 4 to 12 months for States to change voting systems.   Virtually every jurisdiction is familiar with using optical scan paper ballots for military, absentee, and over-seas voting.

Congress should vote “YES” on HR811 and “NO” on any unfunded mandate amendment.   Click "read more" for a list of some of the national and state organizations supporting HR 811.