 |
| Oppose H.R. 5036, Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008 |
[THOMAS] House Bill H.R. 5036 would purportedly increase the security of the U.S. election process by reimbursing jurisdictions that voluntarily replace Direct Recording Electronic voting systems with voter-verifiable paper ballot systems in time for the 2008 elections. The bill would also grant the Election Administration Commission (EAC) new audit regulatory powers and funding to pay for vote count audits of randomly selected precincts, as well as pay for hand counts of paper ballots cast in the 2008 elections.
Critics of H.R. 5036 assert:
- It would significantly expand an unconstitutional federal power grab to control elections that was initiated through the disastrous Help America Vote act of 2002 (HAVA) with its establishing of the Election Administration Commission (EAC).
- A voter-verified paper ballot voting system is no guarantee against wholesale election fraud. Electronic optical scanners used to count votes on paper ballots can still be hacked or tampered with.
- The proposed EAC audit powers undermine the benefit of the paper ballot system the bill seeks to promote, because per the proposed EAC audit policy only "random" audits would be subsidized and none of the bill's $100 million of authorized funding could be used for "targeted" audits directed at where there is a suspicion of election fraud.
- Undesirable consequences may result from the bill's augmentation of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The EAC might invite U.N. international observers to be placed throughout America to jointly monitor the fairness of U.S. elections.
- more -
