Reply #9: Bruce Mc Pherson Opinion......

[Melissa G]

Election paper-trail bill should be vetoed

ANY BALLOT-VERIFICATION SYSTEM MUST INCLUDE THE DISABLED

By Bruce McPherson


As California's secretary of state, I see my top priority as ensuring voter confidence and the integrity of each vote. State law requires that after an election, officials randomly select and manually recount 1 percent of the ballots cast, as a check against voting machine malfunction and fraud. At issue is how to gather the voting records used for verification.

A Mercury News editorial Aug. 31 endorsed a bill, SB 370, that would require the sample recounts to use the paper printouts generated by electronic voting machines.

This bill is flawed and should be vetoed by the governor. It creates major technical and legal flaws that must be resolved before becoming law.

My biggest objection in using the paper trail to check voting machine performance is that it denies many in the disabled community the ability to have the same level of confidence in the process that all other voters enjoy.

Current technology only provides an audible method of verifying votes for visually disadvantaged voters who cast ballots on a computer screen. I have heard from several members of the disabled community who are very troubled because there is no such review for the paper trail, leaving this community out of the process.

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BRUCE MCPHERSON is California's secretary of state.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/12599389.htm