New Mexico Passes Verified Voting Bill Requiring Audits

VerifiedVoting.org Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, April 7, 2005

Contact:

Will Doherty
Executive Director
VerifiedVoting.org
press [at] verifiedvoting.org
+1 415 487-2255 (office), +1 415 425-3936 (cell)

Pamela Smith
Nationwide Coordinator
VerifiedVoting.org
pam [at] verifiedvoting.org
+1 760 613-0172 (cell)


New Mexico Passes Verified Voting Bill Requiring Audits

14th State to Require Voter-Verified Paper Ballots

Santa Fe, NM - Governor Bill Richardson yesterday signed a
bill making New Mexico the fourteenth state to require
voter-verified paper ballots (VVPBs) for its voting systems.
As amended and passed, New Mexico Senate Bill 678 also
requires audits to compare a portion of paper ballots with
electronic vote tallies.

"New Mexico has swelled the ranks of states requiring
voter-verified paper ballots across the country," said
VerifiedVoting.org Executive Director Will Doherty.
"Election administrators, policymakers, and the public
recognize the need to prevent the malfunctions, errors, and
failures of paperless e-voting machines that occurred
repeatedly across the country during November 2004 and
prior election cycles."

"We are pleased to have worked with Verified Voting New
Mexico and organizers throughout the state to raise
awareness about election system reliability and security,"
commented VerifiedVoting.org Nationwide Coordinator Pamela
Smith. "Passage of a bill that requires voter-verified paper
ballots and election audits will encourage public confidence
in New Mexico's election results."

This is a victory for VerifiedVoting.org, its partners, and
voters across the country have successfully persuaded 14
state governments to require voter-verified paper ballots,
with the Idaho bill awaiting the signature of the state's
governor. VVPB legislation has been introduced but not yet
passed in at least 22 more states, for a total of 36 states
with passed or proposed VVPB requirements. Still other
states among the "not yet introduced" category have
traditionally used VVPB systems, and plan to continue to do
so, finding ways to meet requirements of the Help America
Vote Act without having to purchase unreliable paperless
e-voting machines.

VerifiedVoting.org has championed verified voting issues in
almost every state. In Ohio for example, the legislature
responded to lobbying efforts by passing a bill, signed by
the state's governor, which requires voter-verified paper
ballots for all Ohio voting machines by the first federal
election after January 1, 2006. Last summer, many Ohio
counties were considering the expenditure of millions on
paperless e-voting machines. After receiving extensive
pressure from advocacy groups led by VerifiedVoting.org and
the Ohio Citizen's Alliance for Secure Elections (CASE),
28 of 31 Ohio counties decided to postpone any purchase
decisions until after the November 2004 election. Secretary
of State (SoS) Kenneth Blackwell then required all Ohio
counties to use precinct count optical scan voting
technology, which was the option VerifiedVoting.org had
recommended in a crucial letter sent to his administration.

The fourteen states with VVPB requirements are: Alaska,
Arkansas (excepting existing e-voting counties), California,
Idaho (pending governor's signature), Illinois, Maine,
Missouri (by SoS), Nevada (by SoS), New Hampshire, New
Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont.

The 22 additional states where legislators have introduced
VVPB legislation are: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut,
Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland,
Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,
Washington, and West Virginia.

For this release:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5697

New Mexico bill requiring voter-verified paper ballots and
audits:
http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/05%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0678JUS.html

Verified Voting New Mexico:
http://www.vvnm.org/

Map showing landslide toward paper ballot requirements:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/

Details about voter-verified paper ballot requirements:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/legis/

Current alerts active in VerifiedVoting.org action center:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/alerts/

Paperless e-voting problems recorded during Election 2004:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5331


PRESSLIST: Media professionals are invited to subscribe
to the Verified Voting presslist at
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/presslist


About VerifiedVoting.org:

VerifiedVoting.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan lobbying
organization championing reliable and publicly verifiable
elections. Founded by Stanford University Computer Science
Professor David Dill, the organization supports a
requirement for voter-verified paper ballots for all voting
technology, including electronic voting machines, to allow
voters to inspect individual permanent records of their
ballots and election officials to conduct meaningful
recounts and audits. The organization's website is at
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/

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