PROPOSED RESOLUTION - __ date __
By the voters of the __ jurisdiction __, for the
___ sponsoring organization ___
TO PROTECT VOTERS' RIGHTS TO A VOTE COUNT WITH INTEGRITY
WHEREAS, new voting system technologies, such as touch screens, direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines and the internet, do not all produce a physical, voter-verified, independently auditable ballot which registers each voters' selections, and
WHEREAS, computer based systems are subject to error, breakdown, and system or design flaws that inherently cannot protect voting integrity, and
WHEREAS proprietary source code may not be available for public inspection, and
WHEREAS, by 2006, any state which seeks Federal HAVA funds must meet the HAVA Act requirements of replacing punchcard machines and must provide disabled voter access to private voting, and in Section 301, HAVA requires that a "permanent paper record with a manual audit capacity shall be available as an official record for any recount", and
WHEREAS, voting equipment and machines meeting the 2002 Federal standards will best meet those needs;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE ___sponsoring organization____ , that the ___sponsoring organization____ recommend that voting systems in ___jurisdiction___ be prohibited by law for purchase or use by the State and its Counties unless they:
• incorporate a voter verified physical paper ballot, capable of being reviewed before casting without the use of any equipment except sound for the disabled, deposited at a polling place or the Elections Office in a secure ballot box or delivered by the U. S. Postal Service; and
• allow voters to void a ballot and cast a new one; and
• maintain voter anonymity; and
• meet the needs of disabled voters to vote independently; and
• are certified under 2002 Federal standards; and
• use public source code; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the ___sponsoring organization___ support legislation for election systems, management policies and rules for __jurisdiction___ which:
• establish that physical, paper ballots remain the true record of voter intent for the purpose of recount and challenge; and
• require random recounts between the physical, paper record and computer system totals for system audit purposes in at least three precincts or one percent of the precincts (one in 100) in each county; whichever is greater; and
• prohibit the transmission of voting records or tallies by any means except simultaneous physical transport of all ballots and computer records,
• prohibit use of the internet or any equipment connections via wire, cable, fiber-optical or radio transmission,
• specify only direct local connection of memory cards or voting machine data storage devices at the central elections office; and
• requires that voting machines relocated during an election for whatever reason meet the same criteria and requirements of security and non-tampering seals as the original machines.
D R A F T
(this resolution draft is placed in the public domain
for unrestricted use by organizations anywhere, with or without credit to:
"Citizens for Voting Integrity - Washington State, USA"
(an adhoc assemblage of concerned citizens)
