Voting equipment; locality that acquired DREs prior to 7-1-07 may temporarily conduct election.. (HB2422)
Introduced By
Del. Joe May (R-Leesburg) with support from 10 copatrons, whose average partisan position is:
Those copatrons are Del. Tom Gear (R-Hampton), Del. Jackson Miller (R-Manassas), Del. Lacey Putney (I-Bedford), Sen. Chuck Colgan (D-Manassas), Sen. Phil Puckett (D-Tazewell), Sen. Toddy Puller (D-Mount Vernon), Sen. Roscoe Reynolds (D-Martinsville), Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland), Sen. Patsy Ticer (D-Alexandria), Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Arlington)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✓ |
Passed Committee |
✓ |
Passed House |
✓ |
Passed Senate |
✓ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Elections; acquisition of voting equipment by localities. Deletes the provision enacted in 2007 that prohibits the acquisition of direct recording electronic (DRE) machines by any locality on and after July 1, 2007. Read the Bill »
Outcome
History
Date | Action |
---|---|
01/14/2009 | Committee |
01/14/2009 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/09 095593620 |
01/14/2009 | Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections |
01/22/2009 | Assigned P & E sub: Campaign Finance |
02/04/2009 | Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) |
02/06/2009 | Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments (22-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
02/08/2009 | Read first time |
02/09/2009 | Read second time |
02/09/2009 | Committee amendments agreed to |
02/09/2009 | Engrossed by House as amended HB2422E |
02/09/2009 | Printed as engrossed 095593620-E |
02/10/2009 | Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) |
02/10/2009 | VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (98-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
02/10/2009 | Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House |
02/10/2009 | Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) |
02/10/2009 | VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (99-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
02/11/2009 | Constitutional reading dispensed |
02/11/2009 | Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections |
02/17/2009 | Reported from Privileges and Elections (12-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
02/19/2009 | Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
02/20/2009 | Read third time |
02/20/2009 | Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
02/20/2009 | Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 3-N) (see vote tally) |
02/20/2009 | Passed by for the day |
02/23/2009 | Read third time |
02/23/2009 | Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
02/28/2009 | Enrolled |
02/28/2009 | Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2422ER) |
02/28/2009 | Signed by Speaker |
02/28/2009 | Signed by President |
03/30/2009 | G Approved by Governor-Chapter 751 (effective 7/1/09) |
03/30/2009 | G Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0751) |
Video
This bill was discussed on the floor of the General Assembly. Below is all of the video that we have of that discussion, 1 clip in all, totaling 3 minutes.
Comments
This legislation is very important to Electoral Boards across the Commonwealth and has been strongly endorsed by the Virginia Eelctoral Board Association and the Virginia Registrars Association of Virginia. It repeals the prohibition of the purchase of Direct Recording Electronic voting equipment, voting equipment that has proved reliable, tamper-proof and preferred by the large majority of voters throughout the Commonwealth. 90% of our jurisdictions throughout the state use DREs and beleive that they provide the securest means of insuring the integrity of the vote.
Clarification: I am the Chair of the Culpeper County Electoral Board.
Unless the state is going to require paper receipts, I certainly hope this doesn't pass. Electronic voting equipment is unverifiable and easily tampered with. I'm a career programmer (heck, I wrote Richmond Sunlight), and I know dozens (hundreds?) of fellow programmers. Not a single one I know thinks that electronic voting is a good idea, because we know how unreliable that it is. Paper receipts, however, change all of that.
Without a paper trail I do not understand how this form of voting machine can provide the "securist" way of voting. How can you perform a "recount" other than pushing the button again to get the same read-out? Is the software open for public inspection and audit? Doubt it as the software is considered "proprietary" to the manufacturer and not open to outside inspection. What about power failures? At least with opti-scanners you can still vote on the paper ballot and have the ballot collected in a secure box until power returns for later tallying. Would you make an ATM deposit without a receipt and just trust the machine? Even McDonald's offers receipts. Paperless non-verifiable voting processes are not in the best interest of democracy. As a former hardware/software sales person I appreciate the adage of GIGO.