Iowa's voters won an important victory on the last day of the General Assembly session!

By Sean Flaherty, IVI

Dear Friends,

The House passed Senate File 369, and the bill should be signed by Governor Culver soon. By November 2008, all voting machines in Iowa will a voter-verified paper trail. Better still, Iowa will eventually phase out direct-recording electronic voting machines ("DREs") and use only optical scan voting systems, in which the votes are recorded directly on paper ballots. 

Great as this news is, we have a lot of work ahead of us.  Iowa needs to join the 13 states that require a routine hand audit of computer vote tallies. Even with optically scanned paper ballots, vote are tallied electronically. A team of computer scientists concluded last year that hand audits are not optional; without them, paper records and paper ballots are of questionable security value. We also need to work for disclosure of election software, greatly reducing the role of voting machine companies in the administration of elections, and further measures to secure the vote.

In the coming weeks, Congress will take up federal legislation on voting systems. We will keep you informed about what you can do to see that strong federal legislation becomes law.

For now, though, a big thank you to all who have contacted legislators, signed petitions, and spread the word about verified voting.  It is always rewarding to be part of this citizen movement, but never more so than this week.

Best regards,
Sean Flaherty
Co-Chair, Iowans for Voting Integrity
www.IowansForVotingIntegrity.org