The new law has provided funds to States to replace punchcard voting systems, established the Election Assistance Commission to assist in the administration of Federal elections, and it also established minimum election administration standards for States and units of local government with responsibility for Federal elections. As we are witnessing the implementation of the new law, however, we are finding some serious issues of voting integrity and verification that must be addressed. One of those issues that has concerned me, in reviewing the results of the recent off-year elections around the country, has been the inability to conduct an independently-verifiable audit of votes cast using electronic machines. I have consulted with some election experts who worry that without some type of paper record of individual votes, the only actual "recount" that is possible would be a review of the electronic tabulation through the machine's memory. In the event of a memory failure -- not a rare occurrence in computer systems -- a verifiable recount would be impossible. In addition, there are many experts who are concerned about the increased potential of voter fraud in a system that does not actually "mark" a ballot that can be reviewed by the voter.

In this regard, I have chosen to co-sponsor H.R. 2239, legislation which would require that new electronic voting systems adopted as a result of the Help America Vote Act to "produce a voter-verified paper record suitable for a manual audit equivalent or superior to that of a paper ballot box system." In addition, this bill would allow waivers of deadlines established by the Act, in order to encourage states to make more thoughtful purchases of voting equipment.

There is growing concern in Congress at this time about the problems associated with new voting technologies, and it is my hope that there will be sufficient support for H.R. 2239 early in 2004 in order to affect the accuracy and integrity of the elections later in the year. I appreciated the comments and concerns you have relayed to me, and I assure you that this is a high priority issue for me in the 107th Congress.

Sincerely, CONGRESSMAN NORM DICKS