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House Democrats’ Own 2021 Election Bill Concedes Voting Machine Issues

February 21, 2021

During the 2020 presidential election, voting machine security became an issue widely characterized as the exclusive obsession of right-wing “conspiracy theorists.”

But a new bill proposed by House Democrat Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) concedes numerous concerns about voting machines that were of bi-partisan complaint both prior to and after the presidential election.

The “For the People Act of 2021,” or H.R. 1, as it currently stands in the 117th Congress, contains major reforms to the use of voting machines in United States elections.

In Section H of the bill encompassing the “use of voting machines manufactured in the United States,” it permit voters who do not wish to use voting machines the right to request and cast hand-marked paper ballots that are counted by hand and not voting machines.

The following analysis of the current bill provided by the Brennan Center for Justice confirms the proposed federal regulations over voting machines:

“This subtitle would require all jurisdictions to use paper ballots that voters can mark by hand or with a ballot marking device. Voting machines and other infrastructure are likely to be a target for hackers and others looking to disrupt or otherwise interfere with U.S. elections, including those working for foreign governments. Paper ballots are an important safeguard against such threats, because they create a tangible record of each voter’s selections that the voter can use to ensure their choices have been accurately recorded and that election officials can use to verify electronic results. Ballots that can be marked by hand also provide insurance against ordinary equipment failures that can result in long lines at the polls. Since the 2016 election, many jurisdictions have replaced outdated paperless voting equipment — but as many as 16 million Americans may still end up casting their votes using paperless machines in 2020. This subtitle aims to eliminate the risk of paperless voting machines in all federal elections.”

The Brennan Center points out about Subtitle F “Promoting Accuracy, Integrity, and Security Through Voter-Verified Permanent Paper Ballot”:

This subtitle would, among other things:

require state and local officials to:

conduct federal elections using “voter-verified paper ballots”— i.e. ballots that can be marked either by hand or a ballot marking device and inspected by the voter before the ballot is cast;

give voters the opportunity to correct any errors on their paper ballot before it is cast;

give voters the option to mark their ballots by hand;

preserve paper ballots for recounts or audits;

count ballots by hand for recounts and audits; and

provide individuals with disabilities the opportunity to vote privately and independently using paper ballots;

The Brennan Center also provides numerous credible research articles on the issue of voting machine security.

The Democrats’ bill proves that voting machine security is still of concern to Republicans, Democrats and Independents. It is not, contrary to widespread public perception, a partisan issue.

The Washington Post reported that new guidelines for voting machine security have already been issued:

“The Election Assistance Commission, an independent government body that issues voluntary voting guidelines to states and voting machine vendors, unanimously passed a new set of recommendations for voting machines,” the Post reported. “Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0 is the first major change to the commission’s recommendations since they were first established in 2005,” it continued…..more

https://beckernews.com/house-democrats-own-2021-election-bill-concedes-voting-machine-issues-36996/