EDITORIAL: Paper trails

As the 2004 federal election draws near, a number of state election officials are worried that new electronic voting machines purchased in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Florida fiasco might be vulnerable to tampering, or that software malfunctions could cause problems.

Fortunately, Nevada is ahead of the pack. Secretary of State Dean Heller insisted that the electronic voting machines purchased by the state incorporate "verified voter paper trails" a paper backup which could check the accuracy of votes cast in the new devices.

The secretaries of state in California and Missouri have ordered paper trails for their elections; Illinois passed a law mandating the backups last year. But such changes take time to implement. So as a consequence of Mr. Heller's insistence, Nevada will be the only state with such paper trails attached to some of its machines in 2004.

Good. Assuring the integrity of the election process should be a no-brainer.

For reasons that defy logic, however, the League of Women Voters and some state election officials oppose these paper trails, arguing that they divert attention from more "important" issues, such as voter education, increasing voter registration numbers, and improving access to the ballot box by the disabled and those who don't speak English.

The league and its allies need to get their priorities straight. The integrity of our elections is crucial if Americans are to have any faith in their civic institutions. If the voting process is an easy mark for tampering or manipulation, then all the hand-wringing about access to the polls is nothing more than a sideshow.