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NEWS RELEASE
SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
For Immediate Release Contact: Press
Office
December 11, 2003
SENATOR CLINTON ANNOUNCES NEW LEGISLATION TO
INCREASE CONFIDENCE IN THE NATION'S VOTING SYSTEM
Legislation would ensure that
all computerized voting machines allow voters to check.
Legislation would
also protect computerized voting systems from cyber-attacks.
New York, NY - Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton today announced the " Protecting American Democracy Act of 2003.
"Senator Clinton has introduced this legislation to address serious concerns
about the general security of electronic voting machines and the ability of
voters to be confident that their vote is properly recorded. At the press
conference Senator Clinton was joined by Michael Godino of the Queens
Independent Living Center and Sharon Shapiro-Lacks of the Center for the
Disabled in New York City.
"You go to an ATM, you get a
receipt. You play the lottery; you get a ticket. Yet when you cast your vote,
you get nothing," stated Senator Clinton. "The systems used by the people of
the United States to exercise their constitutional right to vote should be as
reliable as the machines people depend on to get their money. What's required
for money machines should be required for voting machines."
"There is no civil action more
important in a Democracy than voting. Yet right now, many Americans have
concerns about the integrity of the electoral system. We must restore trust in
our voting, and we must do it now, "Senator Clinton said.
The "Protecting American Democracy
Act of 2003" is designed to make sure that when voters use the new system they
know that the votes they cast are properly recorded. In addition, the
legislation addresses the potential threat from attempts at computer "hacking"
of these electronic systems.
Specifically, the legislation will
guarantee that voting machines used at federal polling places throughout New
York and across the country provide voters with a chance to verify their vote
before it is permanently recorded. it would amend HAVA by adding a voter
verification requirement, giving each voter an opportunity to verify his or her
vote at the time the vote is cast. This will ensure that every New Yorker's
Vote is counted right, and every American's vote is counted right.
While requiring that all
jurisdictions give voters the ability to verify their votes, the legislation
also gives state and local governments the flexibility to employ the most
appropriate, accurate, and secure voter verification technologies, which may
include voter-verifiable paper ballots, votemeters, modular voting
architecture, and/or encrypted votes, for their State or jurisdiction in a
uniform and nondiscriminatory manner. |
