Congressman Rush Holt discusses how critical for our democracy is to have elections that are accurate, verifiable, and auditable.
| By Rush Holt, Ph.D.  Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) serves on the Committee on Education and Labor, the Committee on Natural Resources, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the LGBT Equality caucus among other caucuses.
Dr. Holt has been an active leader on LGBT equality, ensuring verifiable elections, investing in math and science education, and supporting alternative energy forms. Representative Holt has received numerous awards and citations for his work, including honors from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Garden State Equality, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. He has received the Planned Parenthood Community Service Award, the Biotech Legislator of the Year, and the Science Coalition's Champion of Science award. eQualityGiving has inducted him as an Equality Hero. | |
| | |
The disputed 2000 and 2004 presidential elections - and numerous contested state and local level elections in the last eight years - have raised legitimate doubts about whether every vote counts and is counted. The 2008 election will be historic, and it comes on the heels of two highly controversial presidential elections and numerous controversial local elections. This time, we must get it right.
Free and fair elections are the very cornerstone of democracy, but a self-governing country works only if we believe it does. Today, cynicism about government is at a dangerously high level, and not least cynicism about the process of voting - the cornerstone of democracy.
Today, in the age of computer-based elections, if a voter casts a vote on a purely electronic voting machine, can any election official, computer scientist, or voting system manufacturer reconstruct what that voter intended? No. The votes are cast in secret. Because of the secret ballot, only the voter can verify that his or her intention is recorded correctly. And with only an electronic machine the voter cannot see inside the computer chip to verify the vote. That is why an independent paper ballot - verified by the voter him or herself and preserved for use in recounts and audits - must be required for every vote cast.
I have worked in Congress to pass a national standard requiring that all voters record their votes on paper (either manually or with the use of ballot marking devices) and that in every election, randomly selected precincts be audited. My legislation, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R 811), received a bipartisan majority of support in Congress and was favorably reported out of committee in May 2007. Unfortunately, the bill has not come to the floor for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
When it became apparent that we would not have a national standard that would help ensure a verifiable election this year, this January I offered an even more modest bill to gain bipartisan support and pass quickly. The bill, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008 (H.R. 5036), merely would offer reimbursement to states that chose the option of auditable and audited elections. There was no mandate, but Republicans evidently were unwilling to accept even this modest attempt to bring about verifiable elections. The White House issued a call for a "no" vote, and a majority of Republicans blocked the bill from securing the two-thirds vote needed for expedited passage when the House of Representatives considered the bill in April.
Tellingly, the White House and its allies in Congress objected to the bill's cost, estimated at about $500 million. How much spending is too much to have verifiable elections in the United States? Many people who opposed this legislation supported spending almost $330 million in recent years to provide election assistance in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. I would have hoped those who supported efforts to export democracy abroad would be equally committed to strengthening democracy here at home.
The ability to vote is the most important right as it is the right through which citizens secure all other rights. I will continue to fight to ensure the accuracy and integrity of our elections.
