Thursday, February 10, 2005

New Voting Act Bills Introduced in Congress

The following bills have been introduced in the Senate and House of the
109th Congress
(Full details available at http://thomas.loc.gov):

S.17 Voting Opportunity and Technology Enhancement Rights Act of 2005
(Introduced in Senate)
PURPOSES- The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To secure the opportunity to participate in democracy
for all eligible American citizens by establishing a national Federal
write-in absentee ballot for Federal elections.
(2) To expand and establish uniform and nondiscriminatory
requirements and standards to remove administrative procedural barriers
and technological obstacles to casting a vote and having that vote
counted in Federal elections.
(3) To expand and establish uniform and nondiscriminatory
requirements and standards to provide for the accessibility, accuracy,
verifiability, privacy, and security of all voting systems and
technology used in Federal elections.
(4) To provide a Federal funding mechanism for the States
to implement the requirements and standards to preserve and protect
voting rights and the integrity of Federal elections in the United
States.

H. R. 278 Know Your Vote Counts Act of 2005 (Introduced in House)
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voting systems to
produce a verifiable paper record of each vote cast and to ensure the
security of electronic data, and for other purposes.