Doylestown Township, PA Supporting Voter-Verified Paper Ballots

Type: Resolution

Status: Adopted on 12/6/05

Source File: http://mysite.verizon.net/resq4lzq/cvi/id89.html

Text:

DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF DOYLESTOWN TOWNSHIP SUPPORTING THE IMMEDIATE PASSAGE OF THE VOTER-VERIFIED PAPER BALLOT AND RANDOM MANUAL AUDIT BILL PENDING IN THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE LEGISLATURE

WHEREAS, in 2002, the United States Government passed the Help America Vote Act which was an effort on the part of the Federal Government to correct problems arising from the 200 Presidential Election;

WHEREAS, the Help America Vote Act (hereinafter referred to as "HAVA") required that lever machines be replaced by January 1, 2006 because the machines do not produce a "manual audit capacity" as required;

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is presently testing and certifying voting systems for the purpose of establishing a list of approved voting machines which may be purchased by County Government;

WHEREAS, to date, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has only certified two (2) [now three (3)] machines, both [all] of which are direct recording electronic machines;

WHEREAS, concerns have been raised that a verified paper audit cannot be accomplished by using either [any] of the two (2) [three (3)] approved direct recording electronic machines;

WHEREAS, there is presently pending in the State Legislature two (2) Voter-Verified Paper Records with Routine Audit Bills identified as House Bill 2000 and Senate Bill 977, which would insure the integrity of the election system in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;

WHEREAS, HB 2000 and SB 977 require that before an electronic vote is cast into the computer system a voter-verified paper ballot can be reviewed by the voter to determine its accuracy;

WHEREAS, HB 2000 and SB 977 would also provide the voter with the option to change his/her vote before it is officially counted;

WHEREAS, the residents of Doylestown Township will be better served if their votes are represented in elections by paper ballots which have the ability to be reviewed and confirmed by the voter before submission;

WHEREAS, pursuant to HB 2000 and SB 977, a voter's verified paper record would then be available to be hand counted pursuant to an audit and the hand counts compared to the electronic tally in order to insure the accuracy of the electronic tally;

WHEREAS, the residents of Doylestown Township will then be assured that their votes will be accurately counted in elections; and

WHEREAS, paper ballots also provide a permanent record of the voter intent and would be available in the event of election day discrepancies and for the purpose of recounts.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Board of Supervisors of Doylestown Township that it herein supports the Voter-Verified Paper Records with the Routine Audits Bill as set forth in House Bill 2000 and Senate Bill 977; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of Doylestown Township recommends that the County of Bucks give consideration to the [rental or] purchase of a Voter-Verified Paper Record Voting System so as to provide the most accurate, reliable, tamper proof, cost effective and accessible voting system for Bucks County;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be forwarded to the appropriate State and County officials.