Diane Feinstein has been working on a bill for quite some time to ensure paper trails for computer voting systems. Instead of sticking to her guns, the Senator just caved in and authored a compromise bill without a paper trail, worse, for many reasons, than no bill at all.
The NYT, in an excellent editorial condemning the bill describes its flaws:
[this bill] ...would permit states to verify electronic voting machines' results using electronic records rather than paper. Verifying by electronic records - having one piece of software attest that another piece of software is honest - is not verifying at all. The bill is also vague about rules for audits, leaving considerable room for mischief. The timeline also is unacceptable. States might be able to use unreliable machines through 2014 or longer.
Feinstein, in her usual defiantly sanctimonious manner said:
I have said over and over again that I personally favor voting systems with paper ballots that are read by optical scanners. But I am convinced that there is no way we could move such a bill through Congress. Such paper-only efforts have failed in the House, and have no bipartisan support in the Senate.
About 35 percent of the voters currently use touch-screen systems and another 55 percent use optical scan systems. Therefore, the important thing is to see that these systems are accurate, reliable and secure.
I believe that the Bipartisan Electronic Voting Reform Act, which I sponsored with Senator Robert Bennett, Republican of Utah, is the best we can do right now.
We've seen this type of behavior from some of our judgment impaired Democratic office holders time and again in the Bush era, that failing to get their goal accomplished, they compromise to the point where their initial goal is destroyed and becomes meaningless, just for the sake of legislating and passing something, anything. Compromise is a necessary part of the legislative process, but it is impaired judgment to compromise to the point that it eliminates the very thing you were trying to accomplish. In this case it is independant verification of election results and a paper trail which is completely obliterated. There is no point in compromising if your goals are not met at all, but Dianne Fienstein flunks this basic concept of legislating.
As the NYT also pointed out:
This bill goes out of its way to placate voting machine manufacturers and local election officials, two groups that have consistently been on the wrong side of electronic voting integrity. Reform groups like Verified Voting, which have done critical work in the states, say they were not allowed to provide input.
Here's Verified Voting's critique of the bill that adds a few more specific objections to it, including cost considerations and audit problems.
Most importantly, any bill that promotes computer voting without quality transparent open source audits and a relaible paper trail is a betrayal of, and insult to, democracy and a farce, tantamount to dressing up a pig. Condemning the nation to run a faulty, cheatable system, and empowering computer voting companies to do so, until 2014 is obscenely unacceptable.
It is also absurd to think that Dianne Feinstein would support such a bill when the landscape of Congress will change in 2009 and a better bill may be feasible to pass then. Why she can't wait is beyond me, but again shows unacceptably impaired judgment on an issue of the highest importance. In this case, doing nothing is better than doing something which makes things much worse.
Full text of her bill, S.3212, Bipartisan Electronic Voting Reform Act of 2008 (Introduced in Senate) here for those who wish to read it. Titles for the bill are rather deceptive: Short: Bipartisan Electronic Voting Reform Act of 2008 as introduced. Official: A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide for auditable, independent verification of ballots, to ensure the security of voting systems, and for other purposes. as introduced.
Keep track of the status of the bill in Congress here.
Currently, the bill is early in the process, it has been introduced into Committee (Senate Rules and Administration) with no further action yet.
How to take action: Contact Senator Feinstein
You can let Dianne Feinstein know how you feel about this bill at (202) 224-3841, or at her four state offices here.
Her address is here: Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Remember, a letter carries the most weight, then a phone call, and then an email, in how Congress weighs popular outrage.
Since Dianne Feinstein has just recentlyconsidered running for governor of California, perhaps you can let her know how you also feel about that. We already have candidates far more progressive than Dianne Feinstein who may be running, including Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom, Anthony Villaraigosa, and John Garamendi. We don't need the decrepit, old politics of capitulation of Dianne Feinsteinas governor.
How to take action: Be a Poll Worker:
The Courage Campaign, an excellent California progressive organization, informed me of this bill through email, they suggest to take action by signing up to be a poll worker on election day.