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

Bill Has Passed

History

DateAction
01/14/2009Committee
01/14/2009Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/09 095593620
01/14/2009Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
01/22/2009Assigned P & E sub: Campaign Finance
02/04/2009Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s)
02/06/2009Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments (22-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/08/2009Read first time
02/09/2009Read second time
02/09/2009Committee amendments agreed to
02/09/2009Engrossed by House as amended HB2422E
02/09/2009Printed as engrossed 095593620-E
02/10/2009Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N)
02/10/2009VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (98-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/10/2009Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
02/10/2009Passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
02/10/2009VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (99-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/11/2009Constitutional reading dispensed
02/11/2009Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
02/17/2009Reported from Privileges and Elections (12-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/19/2009Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/20/2009Read third time
02/20/2009Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/20/2009Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate (37-Y 3-N) (see vote tally)
02/20/2009Passed by for the day
02/23/2009Read third time
02/23/2009Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
02/28/2009Enrolled
02/28/2009Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2422ER)
02/28/2009Signed by Speaker
02/28/2009Signed by President
03/30/2009G Approved by Governor-Chapter 751 (effective 7/1/09)
03/30/2009G 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.

Duplicate Bills

The following bills are identical to this one: SB988.

Comments

Charles Crist writes:

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.

Charles Crist writes:

Clarification: I am the Chair of the Culpeper County Electoral Board.

Waldo Jaquith writes:

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.

Linda writes:

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.