"Debugging The E-vote
Matthew Zimmerman
August 17, 2005
Matthew Zimmerman is a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation,"(My comment - a group that has been very successful with litigation and other action to protect digital rights ).
"More than 1,700 days ago, the most significant breakdown of election equipment and procedures in U.S. history occurred. Nearly a year ago, numerous documented incidents of malfunctioning voting machines again cast doubt on close races across the country. Now, Congress is once again set to return from its summer recess solidly unsure of what it will do on the election reform front. The Help America Vote Act, passed on the wings of post-2000 voter indignation, has resulted in what many critics expected of the wide-reaching legislation: some solid gains, plenty of good intentions, and too many questions left dangerously unanswered. One of those outstanding questions is what, if anything, to do about paperless electronic voting machines...
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A variety of less-refined competing bills have emerged in recent months from both sides of the aisle, each (so far) with less support. Rep. Jim Gibbon, R-Nev., has proposed his own bill that requires a voter-verified paper record but does not require mandatory manual audits or provide supplemental funding. Rep. Steve King’s, R-Iowa, version closely mirrors Rep. Gibbons’ bill, with the additional shortcoming that in the event of a conflict between the electronic and paper records, the paper record is not explicitly given priority. Other Democratic efforts have emerged as portions of ambitious omnibus election reform bills and thus far have not demanded rigorous paper record or mandatory audit language.
In short, nothing on the horizon tackles the e-voting reform question better than Holt’s well-crafted bill.
But can it pass? As of this writing, HR 550 enjoys co-sponsorship from 144 members of the House—primarily Democratic, but increasingly bipartisan as Republicans begin to realize that this is not a Trojan horse from the left. At the end of the day, reformers' ability to tone down the rhetoric and conspiracy theories and instead focus on attractive common values like transparency and verifiability will largely determine whether Republicans will climb on board in large numbers as they should. With jurisdictions around the country buying into short-sighted sales pitches from e-voting vendors—and with mid-term elections barely a year away—the clock is ticking."
Article:http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050817/debugging_the_evote.phpI agree with the above sentiment as an effective strategy, regardless of my own belief in the reality of election fraud and theft having occurred.
We need Rush Holt’s "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" HR 550. 
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