Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) [1] has been introducing his Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act [2] for four years now, and in every past year it has been sent off to committee to die a slow and quiet death.

In case you missed it, there was some good news about the bill recently. It made it out of committee [3] and is headed to the floor for a vote. Finally.

It requires, among other things:

• A durable voter-verified paper ballot must be used or produced for every vote cast

• Accessible verification of the paper ballot must be provided

• All paper-based systems (including thermal reel-to-reel systems and accessible systems that used or produced a paper ballot) used in 2006 can be used until 2010; only systems that used no paper ballots at all must be replaced or upgraded by November 2008.

• $1 billion in funding is authorized for system replacement and upgrading

• Paper ballot is vote of record in all recounts and audits, as a check on electronic tallies

• Routine random audits by hand count in 3% of the precincts in all Federal elections, and 5% or 10% in very close races (but races decided by 80% or more need not be audited)

• $100 million each fiscal year is authorized to fund the audits

• Ban on the use of wireless devices and uncertified or undisclosed software

• Arms-length relationship between test labs and vendors is established, through EAC intermediary which receives test fees, appoints test labs, and publishes test results

You should contact your Representative [4] and urge him/her to vote for this bill, H.R. 811, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.

UPDATE: I just wrote Rep. Jimmy Duncan, and thought to check if he was already one of the 216 cosponsors of the bill. I don't see his name on the list [5]. Rep. Zach Wamp is a cosponsor, as are Reps. Steve Cohen, Jim Cooper, Lincoln Davis, Bart Gordon, and John Tanner. That leaves Reps. Duncan, David Davis, and Marsha Blackburn as the only Tennessee Representatives who haven't signed on as cosponsors.