Mrs. .
Joliet, IL 60431

Dear Mrs.
Thank you for contacting me about a verifiable paper trail for
electronic
voting machines.

I share your concerns about this issue. It is essential to safeguard
the
integrity of the voting process and ensure that all votes are properly
counted. To this end, I cosponsored the Help America Vote Act (HAVA),
which became law in 2002. HAVA includes voting system standards for
federal elections. Beginning in 2006, the standards will require that
voting systems, including electronic voting machines, produce auditable
printed records.

Concerns have been raised about the possibility of tampering with
electronic voting machines. One proposed solution is to require an
auditable paper voting record for each ballot cast. I support this
approach. I am a cosponsor of the Voting Integrity and Verification
Act
(S. 330), a measure introduced by Sen. Ensign of Nevada, which would
amend
HAVA to implement a voter-verified paper trail. This bill would permit
each voter to review the accuracy of his or her ballot before it is
cast
and counted by requiring that voting systems provide the voter with an
individual paper version of his or her ballot. In addition, S. 330
would
require that paper versions of each ballot cast be preserved for review
in
the event of a manual recount. S. 330 has been referred to the Senate
Committee on Rules and Administration. As a member of this committee,
I
will continue to support efforts to bring the measure to a vote in the
full Senate.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts on this important issue. Please
feel free to keep in touch.

Sincerely,



Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator