The New Jersey Legislature passed a law to require voter-verifiable paper records in 2005. They need that law badly: the voting machines used in most of the state are unreliable, hackable, and have miscounted ballots in a Presidential primary. The Clerk of Union County actually encouraged voters not to use the machines and vote absentee in the November election.
Anyway, the law was supposed to be implemented by 2008. It wasn't, and if lawmakers pass bills now moving in both Houses, the law may never be implemented. If you live in NJ, click here to send a message to legislators opposing irresponsible delay.
To meet the requirement for voter-verified paper, the state chose to retrofit its existing machines with one-of-a-kind, expensive printers. They don't work so well. In fact, one lawmaker calls them "Rube Goldberg machines." They did not have to do it this way: 60% of the nation's voters vote on optically scanned paper ballots. Optical scan is the most cost-effective, most auditable electronic voting system on the market.
So the bills moving in both NJ Houses would undo any firm deadline and conduct a "pilot study" of voter-verifiable paper records. Pilot study. 39 states have adopted verifiable systems of one kind or another without pilot studies! And what will the study examine? The same printers that have failed for three years. And guess who is a lead the sponsor of the bill to study the Rube Goldberg printers? Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, who said she'd rather change a tire than use them:
"What made the difference was this summer," said Quigley, who sponsors the bill. "I went to see what this Rube Goldberg machine would look like. I'd rather change a tire. . . . I think we need to step back."
Why spend any time and money studying machines no one wants when there is a better system available? It's beyond words.
**UPDATE**
Via agr at Blue Jersey, I have learned that the bill has been amended to include optical scan systems in the pilot. Getting better, but nowhere near good enough. As I wrote at Blue Jersey: given that optical scan is the most widely used voting system in the nation, there is no need for a pilot study to evaluate the benefits of optical scan. It's a proven system. A pilot rollout in the June primary makes sense, in preparation for a statewide switch to optical scan by November 2009.
This is exactly what Tennessee did recently; the state legislature voted to require optical scan by 2010, and there are pilots going on to help make the deployment go smoothly:
http://www.timesnews.net/...
November 2009 is doable; states have switched successfully in less time, and given all the delay, this should be done fast. The gubernatorial election should be verifiable.
And the printers don't need a pilot at all; junk 'em.
The State Government Committee of the Senate will meet tomorrow (Dec. 11) on its version of the the bill. If you live in NJ, click here to send a message to legislators. Legislators need to know that three and a half years is too long, and that the state's election for Governor should be decided by verifiable ballots.
