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Pennsylvania Legislature Approves Major Election Reform Bill; Voter Identification & Provisional
Ballots Among Issues Addressed in Legislation.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly has given final approval to legislation that would enact numerous
election reforms in the Commonwealth, making vast improvements to the manner in which elections are conducted in Pennsylvania.
The passage of this measure comes on the heels of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was signed into law by President
Bush in October.
A key provision of the bill will address any disputes that may arise on Election Day where voters may, because of no fault
of their own, find that they are not in the poll book but are in fact registered. Under Senate Bill 824, a voter who claims
to be registered to vote but whose name does not appear on the election rolls will be permitted to cast a "provisional" ballot,
the veracity of which will be determined before the election is certified, Piccola said.
A fraud-prevention measure contained in the legislation would also require individuals who are voting at an election district
for the first time to produce identification, Piccola said. It would establish standards for both photo and non-photo IDs,
and allow first-time voters who do not have an acceptable form of identification to cast a provisional ballot.
Piccola said that another positive aspect of Senate Bill 824 is the creation of a Voting Standards Development Board that
would adopt uniform standards for what constitutes a vote for each category of voting system used in Pennsylvania, such as
punch-cards and electronic voting systems.
More...
electionline.org briefing on compliance of states with HAVA
It looks like PA is at the top of the early-bird list for compliance measures.
The report may be several months old, remember to check PA site for official material.
Welcome to the Department of State's website dedicated to the Help America Vote Act! The Help America Vote Act
(HAVA) was passed by Congress during 2002 to prevent a recurrence of difficulties experienced during the Presidential Election
of 2000.
HAVA, along with accompanying legislation from the Pennsylvania General Assembly (Act 150 of 2002), seeks to
bring a level of standard to the electoral process in Pennsylvania and across the United Stated in general....
http://www.hava.state.pa.us/hava/site/default.asp
States are beginning to implement requirements of Help America Vote Act 2002
PA measure: Senate Bill 824
Local News
Pennsylvania
Legislature Approves Major Election Reform Bill
By TSN Staffwriter
Dec 3, 2002, 12:01 PST
A fraud-prevention measure contained in the legislation would also require individuals
who are voting at an election district for the first time to produce identification, Piccola said. It would establish standards
for both photo and non-photo IDs, and allow first-time voters who do not have an acceptable form of identification to cast
a provisional ballot.
tristatenews.com
PA Bulletin
public hearing on March 26, 2003
Found this site June 9, 2003
SecurePoll Electronic Voting Update
A
Derek Dictson & Dan Ray Initiative
November
13, 2001
http://www.securepoll.com/Archives/Archive41.htm
Pennsylvania Voting Modernization Task Force Report (in PDF) link
Hearing by Joint Select Committee Focuses on
Federal Election Reform Bills Impact
on PA
compare with the PA legislation passed, especially regarding suggestions for online voting for military...
Piccola
Good resource
up to date June 10, 2003 electionline.org
Still, the monies from the federal government may not be fully available
for the kind of protected touch-screen system our commissioners might consider purchasing.
Be aware of the funding situation.
from Public Citizen Congress Watch
FY 2003 Appropriations Bill Allocates $1.5 Billion for Election Reform Law
On February 13, Congress
finally approved the fiscal year 2003 appropriations bill (H.J. Res. 2), which contains a $1.5 billion allocation to carry
out the mandates of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
... The funding measure
provides $650 million for immediate grants to states to phase out antiquated voting machines. It is the entire amount required
by HAVA for this purpose, and will be distributed to states based on population and need. The biggest winner will be California,
which will be awarded more than $80 million of these funds. Other big winners include New York, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
More...
http://www.citizen.org/congress/govt_reform/election/articles.cfm?ID=9053
Regular Session 2001-2002
Senate Bill 824 Current PN: 2435
SENATE AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE AMENDMENTS, NOVEMBER 26, 2002
Pertains to referendum
SECTION 9. SECTIONS 1103-A(E), 1105-A(A), (B), (E) AND (F) AND 1106-A OF THE ACT, ADDED JULY 11, 1980 (P.L.600, NO.128), ARE AMENDED TO READ: SECTION 1103-A. PLACING THE QUESTION ON THE BALLOT; ELECTION THEREON.--* * * (E) IF A MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORS OF ANY COUNTY OR MUNICIPALITY, VOTING ON SUCH QUESTION, SHALL VOTE AGAINST THE ADOPTION OF AN ELECTRONIC VOTING
SYSTEM THE QUESTION [SHALL NOT] MAY AGAIN BE SUBMITTED TO THE VOTERS OF SUCH COUNTY OR
MUNICIPALITY [WITHIN A PERIOD OF ONE HUNDRED THREE WEEKS].
OK 103 weeks = almost 2 years?
Points to ponder:
Has the Sec. of State approved the touch-screen voting machine with the voter-verified paper trail???
Task Force Members
Section 205 of Act 150 of 2002
(February 26, 2003)
Josh Wilson
Touts features recommended by Task Force, including the referendum
11/5/01
Report and Task Force
Look at this among recommendations of Task Force
That made it into PA Act implementing HAVA
Well finally notices found a bit late, it's July 21st
That's right, the 1993 Motor Voter Law created some situations:
Another issue the committee examined was the states Motor Voter program, which
permits Pennsylvanians to register to vote when renewing their drivers licenses or vehicle registrations. Concerns have arisen over old, invalid names not being purged from the Motor Voter system, creating a situation
where one person may be registered to vote in multiple parts of the state.
| Status: |
|
For Immediate Release |
| Date: |
|
February 3, 2003 10:40 AM EST |
| Attn: |
|
All Media |
| Contact: |
|
Frank Wiebe
(949) 200-4000 x102
E-mail: fwiebe@accupoll.com |
| TICKER: |
|
ACUP |
IRVINE, Calif. -- (BUSINESSWIRE) February 3, 2003 -- Voters
have made their intent clear -- voters prefer to review their votes when the votes have been recorded on paper.
The approval of a voter verifiable printed paper record produced simultaneously
with casting an electronic ballot won by a landslide, in separate surveys conducted in California and Pennsylvania.
In a recent California telephone survey, 80% of active voters randomly polled said
they would have more trust in an election if they could see their vote recorded on paper as part of the process of casting
a ballot on an electronic voting station.
Pennsylvania voters who participated in shadow voting with AccuPoll (OCT BB:ACUP)
during the November 5th general election agreed after using the AccuPoll equipment. The AccuPoll voting station has a touch
screen but prints a paper record of the voter's cast ballot (a "Proof of Vote") for the voter to review.
This voter verified paper record can be audited against the cast electronic ballots
to insure the integrity and accuracy of the election and hand counted in the event of a recount. Voters who tested AccuPoll
were asked to complete a survey on their experience for the County Commissioners. More than 80% of the voters who tested the
new AccuPoll equipment voiced their approval of the voter verified paper record and the ease of the overall voting experience.
Such survey results are a vote of confidence for the future of election reform,
because first generation touch screen systems currently being adopted have not won public confidence. Everyone agrees, it's
time for a change, but pure touch screen systems are not being embraced by the public. Voters report confusion with the touch
screens and express little confidence that their choices were actually recorded properly in invisible electronic files.
Professional studies, such as those of Dr. Rebecca Mercuri (Bryn Mawr College)
have demonstrated that touch screens can fail in ways that cause them to improperly record votes. Experience in live elections
in 2002 in Florida and Texas revealed numerous incidents of failures to record or tally votes from pure touch screen systems.
AccuPoll is proud to offer a new generation of voting equipment that combines the
latest touch screen usability and the conclusive voter verified paper records preferred by voters and required for auditable
results.
About AccuPoll Holding Corp.
AccuPoll, an Irvine-based developer of elections equipment has excited voters,
elections officials and special needs advocates in the United States and several European countries with an innovative new
approach to recording and counting votes.
Combining modern touch screen input with the confidence of a voter verified printed
paper record, AccuPoll allows each voter to see their vote recorded and creates a permanent audit trail of the election as
recently mandated in the "Help America Vote Act of 2002."
AccuPoll works with all levels of government to ensure that AccuPoll's innovative
technologies address the needs of voters, the processes of elections and the existing infrastructure to insure the integrity,
security and accuracy of elections.
AccuPoll makes every vote count by counting every vote. For additiona information
please visit www.accupoll.com.
More...http://www.smallcapreview.com/acup.htm
Unfortunately, though AccPoll apparently was tested for use in PA, it is not among the machines certified yet by the
state of PA.
In 2002, two
laws that affect the electronic voting system examination process in Pennsylvania were enacted. The federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was signed into law on October 29, 2002. HAVA creates the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which will provide for testing, certification, decertification
and recertification of voting system hardware and software by accredited laboratories.
In response to HAVA, the Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted Act 150 of 2002, which was signed into law on December
9, 2002. Act 150 requires that an electronic voting system be approved by a federally
recognized independent testing authority and that it meets any voting system performance and test standards established by
the federal government before it can be examined by the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Following is
a list of all electronic voting systems currently approved for use in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: (Please note the date of
approval for each system, as many of these systems were approved prior to the development of any national performance and
test standards.)
More...
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