Verified Voting Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, July 28, 2005

Contact:

David Dill
Founder and Board Director
Verified Voting Foundation
david@verifiedvoting.org

Shawn Casey O'Brien
Co-Host and Co-Producer
KPFK's Disability Awareness Show "Access Unlimited"
irishsob@verizon.net


Advocates Urge Election Assistance Commission to Require Verification and Accessibility

Voters Can Have the Best of Both Worlds

Pasadena, CA - Voting rights advocates in the disability community and supporters of a voter-verified paper ballot have come together today to urge the Election Assistance Commission to require voting systems that are both verifiable and accessible to all voters.

The advocates also joined together to remind California state election officials to uphold the goal of private, independent voting for all Californians -- including those with disabilities -- as the state implements its new "paper trail" law.

Former Executive Director of the Unique People's Voting Project, Shawn Casey O'Brien, called this meeting of the minds "a great break-through for all parties concerned."

"No one wants votes counted fully, fairly, and accurately, more than disabled citizens do," added O'Brien, who headed a voter registration effort that registered over 100,000 disabled voters. "California will feel the real political power of the disability vote now that we have proven that accessibility and the security of our voting systems are completely compatible."

"When I started in 2003, some people didn't understand how paper ballots could be accessible, so they pushed for paperless touchscreen machines to solve all of the voters' problems," said David Dill, a Stanford computer science professor and founder of the Verified Voting Foundation. "Now most people are realizing that there is no need for conflict between accessibility for voters with disabilities and the integrity of the voting system for everyone."

Dill and O'Brien both served on Secretary Shelley's Task Force on Touch-Screen Voting in 2003, which made recommendations that ultimately led former California
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to require accessible voter-verified paper records (AVVPR) in the state. The state legislature later enacted a statute to require AVVPR.

Dill and O'Brien also called on current California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson to continue Shelley's strong emphasis on accessibility and privacy as the new law is implemented.

"We shouldn't look to technology as a solution that magically solves all accessibility problems," Prof. Dill stated. "All voting machines pose problems for some voters,
so we have some hard work ahead to establish guidelines that provide accessible and trustworthy machines."

"If the Secretary of State mandates that California spend its hundred million on voting equipment that is both accessible and verifiable, then voting technology manufacturers will come up with the technology to get their piece of that very expensive pie," O'Brien concluded.

After a year-long controversy, California was the first state to enact new election laws requiring an AVVPR for all voting equipment. The state brought together concerned citizens that were often at odds with each other on how to best protect against tampering with electronic voting machines, while promoting accessibility and ease of use for millions of disabled voters.