Verified Voting

Verifiable Elections in New Jersey To Be Postponed Indefinitely

UPDATE: Both Houses will vote on eliminating the requirement for voter-verified paper records on Monday December 15. If you have not already acted, now is the time!

It boggles the mind, but New Jersey's progress toward verifiable elections is once again threatened.

Three years ago, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law requiring voter-verifiable paper records by January 2008. Then twice in 2008, the Legislature extended that deadline, first to June 2008, then to January 2009.

Now verifiable voting in New Jersey will be delayed indefinitely unless you act. The bill S2380, and its companion A3458, would undo the the requirement, and establish a "pilot program" for voter-verified paper records. If enacted, S2380 and A3458 could well mean that New Jersey voters will not have verifiable voting in time for the next election for Governor in 2009. The only reasonable course of action now is to require the deployment of a better voting system to meet New Jersey's legal requirement for voter-verified paper records -- paper optical scan ballots -- as soon as feasible, but not later than the gubernatorial election.

Over 30 states have managed to implement verifiable, recountable, auditable voting without a comedy of delays or a pilot program. Please fill out the form below to send a letter to New Jersey's lawmakers. Use the letter shown below or edit it as you see fit.

Tell New Jersey's lawmakers: no more delays. And thank you for taking action!

September 10, 2010

Subject:
New Jersey Deserves Verifiable Elections

Dear Legislator,

I write to you to urge that you stand against irresponsible delay in requiring verifiable elections for New Jersey. The Committees have failed to recognize that there is a proven, reliable voting system that will meet New Jersey's legal requirement for voter-verifiable paper records. Now the buck stops with you. I urge you to oppose A3458 and S2380, and instead support legislation that instead extends the January 2009 deadline for voter-verifiable paper records, and requires a statewide conversion to precinct-based optical scan systems, with accessible ballot markers, no later than the gubernatorial election in November 2009. I recognize that is not possible for the state to comply with the current January 2009 deadline for voter-verifiable paper records, but A3458 and S2380 would cause unnecessary delay by mandating a pilot program in the June primary, and then not requiring implementation at all. Paperless electronic voting machines in 8 counties were discovered mis-tallying votes in last year's Presidential primary. Princeton University computer scientists conducted an analysis which was released in redacted form last month; the analysis strongly recommended that the state convert to a system of voter-marked paper ballots, with ballot markers to serve voters with disabilities. Most states have heeded the warnings of experts who know the strengths and weaknesses of computers, and moved to adopt verifiable election systems. Now the vast majority of the nation's voters cast their ballots on voting systems that can be verified independently of computer software. New Jersey voters deserve no less.
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