Electronic vote 'receipt' can wait, Gardner says

BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU CHIEF

COLUMBUS - State government should not immediately require that new electronic voting machines provide "receipts" that would enable citizens to verify their votes, the chairman of a legislative committee said yesterday.

State Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green) said he's not aware of any state that has bought and used "voter-verified paper audit trails" in their election systems.

"It is my opinion that to legislatively mandate a voter-certified paper audit trail with such limited experience and vendor options is not good public policy," Mr. Gardner wrote in a memo to members of a House-Senate committee that is examining the security of electronic voting.

After the controversial 2000 presidential election returns in Florida, Congress passed a bill that President Bush signed into law - the Help America Vote Act - that provides federal funds for states to replace punch-card and lever voting machines and meet other federal voting mandates.

Mr. Gardner said he believes new electronic voting machines can be used securely in Ohio without voters getting a "receipt."

"A printed copy of each individual voter's ballot and intentions must be able to be produced to help assure reliability of the count and utilized in the event of a recount," wrote Mr. Gardner.

He also said counties should have the "freedom" to move forward this year with new voting machines, but counties scheduled to do so also should be able to reconsider and get more time if that's the decision of a majority of their county elections board.