Congressman Doyle Supports Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act

Pittsburgh, PA – March 5, 2007 – U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14) spoke out today in support of legislation that would increase American voters’ confidence in the accuracy and reliability of our country’s voting machines at a press conference held on the steps of the City-County Building in Pittsburgh.

“Over the last 7 years, our nation has experienced a number of close contests, with a handful of votes determining the outcome of several very important elections,” Congressman Doyle observed. “It’s critical that, with such close votes and so much at stake, the American voters have confidence in the accuracy, impartiality, and reliability of our electoral system.”

“As we’ve all learned, electronic voting machines – like all human creations – have their flaws and vulnerabilities,” Congressman Doyle added. “It’s important that our electoral process incorporates reliable processes for monitoring elections and verifying their results. It’s now clear that we need voter-verifiable paper records to achieve that goal. It’s also clear that we need to do more to ensure voters with disabilities can vote and verify their votes. H.R. 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, would achieve those goals, and I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this essential legislation.”

H.R. 811, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, would make a number of changes in the way our elections are administered – the single most important change being the requirement that the electoral process produce a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast. In addition, this legislation would require random audits by hand count in every federal race to ensure that voting results are being correctly counted. This bill would also require that the entire process of voting and ballot verification be accessible to individuals with disabilities, not just that the voting equipment be equipped for them. And, finally the bill would provide $300 million to help states meet these new requirements for paper ballots and accessible ballot verification mechanisms. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act currently has 196 cosponsors.

Congressman Doyle was joined at the press conference by Allegheny County Councilman John DeFazio, who announced plans to introduce a resolution in Council in support of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.

“I think that the prospects for enactment of this bill by the new majority in Congress are good, but the way to ensure we accomplish that goal is to keep up the grassroots pressure across the country,” Congressman Doyle said. “Councilman DeFazio’s resolution is another good tool for achieving that goal, and I want to commend him for introducing this resolution.”

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