For Immediate Release

July 7, 2005

GILL LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE VOTER-VERIFIED PAPER TRAIL SIGNED INTO LAW

TRENTON - A bill sponsored by Senator Nia H. Gill which would require voting machines in New Jersey to provide a voter-verified paper trail to ensure the accuracy of the vote was signed into law today by Governor Codey.

"The right to vote is the most precious one afforded to American citizens, because it holds government accountable to the will of the people," said Senator Gill, D-Essex and Passaic. "The history of American democracy, from the Boston Tea Party to the civil rights marches of the 1960's, has always been inextricably tied to the continued demand for fair and equal representation, but when the integrity of the democratic process is questioned because of programming errors and computer glitches, we must act to restore that integrity. A voter-verified paper trail will assure voters that their votes were accurately received, and that their part in the democratic process was protected from electronic error and abuse."

The bill, S-29, would amend current law to require voting machines to produce an individual paper record for every vote cast. The paper record would allow voters to inspect and verify that their vote was successfully and accurately collected. The paper record would then be stored inside the machine, and in the event of a recount, would be used to verify the election results. Under the new law, counties would be required to comply by January 1, 2008, unless granted a waiver by the State Attorney General because the technology is not yet commercially available, and counties could apply to be reimbursed by the State for the cost of purchasing and retrofitting a machine if federal funds are not made available.

The advancement of technology has placed us well within the Computer Age, but electronic and computer voting machines are vulnerable to malfunction," said Senator Gill. "A voter-verified paper trail allows us to have a tamper-proof back up that will ensure that the stability of democracy does not become an unintended victim to our continuing technological sophistication."