Act Now For Paper Ballots in Iowa
by Jerry Depew, Laurens, Iowa
Iowa Voters for Open and Transparent Election

County auditors throughout Iowa have spent a pile of money for new voting machines that take the state deeper into the shadow of paperless voting. Seventy counties now will “record” at least part of their votes in a way that many voters distrust, on touchscreen computers with no paper printout for the voter to verify.  See this map (pdf).

Before the Help America Vote Act provided all this money, only 15 counties used paperless computers.

This shadow grew despite a raging national controversy during the time these machines were being purchased. It happened because the auditors blocked SF 351, a bill requiring a paper ballot. It happened despite a call from the Secretary of State for the bill’s passage, a plea from voters at HAVA hearings last spring, and a joint letter from the Secretary and the Governor backing paper ballot trails. It happened despite independent reports from the General Accounting Office, the Congressional Research Service and the Carter-Baker Commission questioning computer security and recommending paper records.

Earlier this week VotetrustUSA.org offered Iowans an easy-to-use email program for asking our state legislature to pass the bill we need, SF 351.  Please take this action. Make the sun shine on Iowa’s ballots.

Jerry Depew of Laurens, Iowa, runs the non-partisan blog, Iowa Voters for Open and Transparent Elections, and has granted Blog for Iowa permission to reprint his report.