NH Among Few States Using Paper Records for Voting. Hope it spreads!

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57328-2004Jan28.html

N.H. Among Few Using Paper in Vote Records


By RACHEL KONRAD
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 28, 2004; 4:16 PM

As New Hampshire election supervisors compiled official results Wednesday of the nation's first primary, they were unencumbered by worries about the computer miscounts that could embroil Georgia, California, Florida and other states in upcoming months.

That's because New Hampshire is one of the few states to require a paper record for every ballot cast.

The state's relatively low-tech system - adopted after disasters with both antiquated punch cards and cutting-edge touch-screen computers - could become a nationwide model as scrutiny over electronic voting grows.

"Maybe people elsewhere trust machines more than they trust humans, but that would be totally out of the question here," said Secretary of State Bill Gardner, one of the longest serving elections officials in the country. "I'm aghast that other places are considering touch-screen computers."

In 1995, New Hampshire passed a law requiring a paper record of every ballot cast, effectively banning touch-screen election computers that don't produce such receipts. Instead, New Hampshire voters fill in ovals or connect arrows on paper ballots or card stock.

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New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner is the only Secretary of State to sign Stanford University computer scientist David Dill's online petition that warned the feds that voting systems lacking a paper trail were inherently subject to tampering.