FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, June 12, 2006

Contact:
Courtenay Strickland Bhatia, President & CEO, Verified Voting Foundation
+1 415 487-2255 work or +1 415 235-0126 cell, courtenay@verifiedvoting.org
Bobbie Brinegar, Verified Voting Senior Political Advisor and League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia Board Member
+1 202-441-8068 cell, bobbie@verifiedvoting.org

MINNEAPOLIS – Verified Voting applauds the League of Women Voters (LWVUS) for its passage today of a resolution in support of voter-verified paper records and mandatory random manual audits of voting systems nationwide. The resolution was drafted by the League of Women Voters Minnesota (LWVMN) and put forward at the National League's Annual Convention, being held in Minneapolis.

Verified Voting's Bobbie Brinegar, Board Member of the Washington DC LWV, said "This support for voter-verified paper records, coming from the League of Women Voters, is truly a major step forward for election integrity. The League has long been a credible and reliable force in safeguarding our nation's elections."

Barbara Simons stated, "I'm thrilled that the League has reaffirmed its core value of protecting the citizens' right to vote and have that vote accurately counted." Dr. Simons is a Board member of Verified Voting, and past President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Several state Leagues, like Minnesota's, have been instrumental in supporting the passage of legislation for voter-verified paper records.

The "Resolution Related to Program Requiring a Voter-Verifiable Paper Ballot or Paper Record with Electronic Voting Machines" calls for those paper records to be accessible. The text follows:

Whereas:

Some LWVs have had difficulty applying SARA Resolution (Secure, Accurate, Recountable and Accessible) which passed at the last convention, and

Whereas:

Paperless electronic voting systems are not inherently secure, can malfunction, and do not provide a recountable audit trail,

Therefore be it resolved that:

The position on the Citizen's Right to Vote be interpreted to affirm that LWVUS supports only voting systems that are designed so that:

a) they employ a voter-verifiable paper ballot or other paper record, said paper being the official record of the voter's intent; and

b) the voter can verify, either by eye or with the aid of suitable devices for those who have impaired vision, that the paper ballot/record accurately reflects his or her intent, and

c) such verification takes place while the voter is still in the process of voting; and

d) the paper ballot/record is used for audits and recounts; and

e) the vote totals can be verified by an independent hand count of the paper ballot/record; and

f) routine audits of the paper ballot/record in randomly selected precincts can be conducted in every election, and the results published by the jurisdiction.

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