Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting

It is premature to use direct recording electronic (DRE) voting technology as the sole source for recording and retaining individual ballots cast by voters. DRE enhanced technology has brought many benefits to our society, but it has not been deployed for use in critical transactions of value without the addition of paper records to provide a physical backup of information related to transactions in banking and retail sales. The use of DRE technology has come with a long record of documented problems that support and affirm why the technology has been joined with the parallel adoption of physical record production.

Principles:

• All voting technology used in public elections should have as standard equipment the ability to produce a voter verified paper ballot.
• All polling locations should have available upon request a reader that can assist voters in independently verifying that the information on their ballot is accurate.
• Fund the maximum amount allowed under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to support the work of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) so that it may fulfill its responsibility to assist the U.S. Election Assistance Commission with the development of technical standards for voting equipment.
• Federal funds should be increased or new sources of funding found that will support research and development in areas that will lead to innovations in voting technology that increase the number of options available to state and local governments to fully extend the franchise to all voters.