Meek Calls for Voting Paper Trail

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek joined his colleagues in Congress in introducing legislation requiring voting machine systems to produce paper ballots, stating that “a vote cast must be a vote counted.”

“Voting is an American birthright that is compromised today by faulty voting machines which undermines our democracy,” Meek said.

This bill makes certain that all voting systems must produce or use a voter verified paper ballot.  It also mandates that a percentage of random audits of reported election results should routinely occur as a check on the system.

In a recent example of voting system flaws, during the 2006 election in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, 18,000 votes in Democratic-heavy Sarasota County were recorded for other electoral races but not the congressional contest.  The election is under review in the courts and in Congress.

Governor Charlie Crist (R-FL) announced last week in Florida a proposal to spend $32.5 million to replace paperless electronic voting machines with optical scan machines that can read paper ballots.

“Voters should never leave a polling station concerned that their vote will not be counted, and this legislation that creates a paper record is the only acceptable outcome,” Meek said.

The bill is called “The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.”

Congressman Kendrick B. Meek represents the 17th Congressional District of Florida, which includes parts of Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.

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