By John Gideon on 5/11/2007, 9:00pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

An article in Arstechnica correctly points out that the Lofgren amendment to HR-811:

...significantly watered down the requirement that voting machine source code be made publicly available. Holt's original legislation had required that source code be "available for inspection promptly upon request to any person." The version approved by the House still requires vendors to disclose source code to an independent third party, but that third party may only disclose the source code to government officials, to parties in election-related litigation, or to a person "who reviews, analyzes, or reports on the technology solely for an academic, scientific, technological, or other investigation or inquiry concerning the accuracy or integrity of the technology."

Even with this change to the bill we are pleased with the way the bill came out of committee. Unfortunately the lack of wording that requires paper ballots for all tallies, recounts and audits keeps us from supporting the bill. Let me be perfectly clear though; we are not anti-HR811. We are, instead, neutral and will continue our fight to ban electronic ballots from US elections.

Ed Note: The above comments represent the position of VotersUnite.org, not necessarily those of The BRAD BLOG.

For more of today's most notable voting news stories, see all the links below...

  • NAtional: House waters down e-voting code disclosure rules LINK
  • NAtional: Paper trail bill voted out of House committee. Would such a law have prevented Sarasota? LINK
  • NAtional: The globalization of electronic election theft LINK
  • NAtional: Voting Paper Trail Requirement Clears Committee LINK
  • NAtional: Hand-Counted Paper Ballots: Frequently Asked Questions LINK
  • CA: Riverside County - Vote machine probe to start next week LINK
  • CA: San Diego County - BREAKING: Former Diebold, Sequoia Sales Rep Named as New San Diego County Registrar of Voters LINK
  • CA: San Diego County - Former Diebold Sales Rep Becomes Registrar of Voters in San Diego LINK
  • CA: San Diego County - County hires new registrar of voters LINK
  • CO: Douglas County - High school students to work Douglas elections LINK
  • GA: Karen Handel: Voting Rites
    Georgia’s Secretary of State says providing a paper trail for electronic voting is a matter of when, not if. LINK
  • IL: Feds find fault with state election spending LINK
  • IN: Hancock County - After losing by 9 votes, candidate wants a recount LINK
  • IN: Marion County - Council president to reinstate investigative election committee LINK
  • MA: Bolton - New voting machine has assistive features LINK
  • PA: Bucks County - Freedom of Information LINK
  • UT: Salt Lake County - Special Election Means Special Expenses for Cities, Counties LINK
  • WV: Jefferson County - Electronic voting equipment purchase approved LINK
  • Canada: Montreal - City pays $300,000 to settle dispute on botched voting LINK
  • Scotland: Fragmented databases behind Scottish election debacle LINK
  • **"Daily Voting News" is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in "Daily Voting News" may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or BradBlog.Com**

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