Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was signed into law in Oct. 2002. Amongst other things HAVA required the formation of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and provided some mandates, in Title III of the law, for federal elections including some standards for voting systems. Those standards include, but are not limited to, accessibility for voters with disabilities and accuracy in the vote count. Testing by experts in accessibility has shown that none of the Direct Recording Electronic voting systems presently in use meet the requirements for accessibility. Failures in testing and vote counting in real elections have also proven that, at times, the voting systems presently being used across the country do not meet the federally mandated requirements for accuracy. So what guidance has been provided by the EAC to the states with regards to Title III? Well, actually none. In fact even though voting systems presently in use do not meet federal law the EAC is just now getting around to issuing guidance to state and local election officials and, according to the draft of the plan 'featured' below, it is going to take another two years before the EAC can complete the guidance.
Why can't they just tell the vendors and the states that the law is clear and if they fail to follow that law violations will be referred to the DoJ? The fact that the vendors misrepresent their products as being accessible is a clear violation of the law. It is time they are held responsible and it doesn't take two years of studying Title III of HAVA to make that clear....
Featured: National: US EAC Draft Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years: 2009 through 2014 LINK
National: Election Reform and the Right to Vote: Part I
LINK
National: Fix The Voting System Now
The New Republic: The Election May Be Over, But The Problem Is Far From Gone LINK
CA: Riverside County - Opinion - Registrar rallied to count votes LINK
CO: Colorado Election Reform Commission, Dec. 2, 2008 LINK
GA: Appeals court hears argument on voter ID LINK
MN: Opinion - Not Every Vote Counts LINK
MN: U.S. Senate recount results by county LINK
MN: Franken Camp Claims To Be Winning Recount LINK
MN: Franken pulls closer, but Coleman leads in Minn. LINK
MN: More Missing Ballots in Coleman-Franken Race; Recount Extended LINK
OH: Senate pursues quick action on election reform
Bill would do what Brunner's summit warned against: rush changes into law LINK
OH: GOP move to alter Ohio voting law in lame-duck session sparks criticism LINK
OH: Ohio Election Summit starts to evaluate the 2008 election LINK
OK: Bill requiring photo ID is a bad idea ... once again LINK
PA: Clarion County - County LWV hears concerns about electronic voting LINK
VT: Officials recount towns at random LINK
WA: Coffee and Politics hosts secretary of state
Sam Reed spoke about improving the ballot system, illegal voting and other election issues. LINK
WV: Ireland sticks by voting machines LINK
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