Utah Progressive Democrats of America News

[greenmutha]

Just received this in my email from Laura Bonham:

Utah Passes E-Voting Legislation

The final day of the Regular Utah Legislative session was Wednesday, March 3. What a relief! One thing that can generally be agreed upon by Utahans is that our legislators can be counted upon to pass outrageous or outright unconstitutional laws each year. In previous years, they have passed resolutions to Congress supporting withdrawal from the UN and resolutions against the Kyoto Treaty. This year they passed a resolution in full support of Bush’s Social Security Plan without considering any of the details. There is not enough time to relate all the lawsuits filed against unconstitutional abortion laws. This year, the legislature passed a law prohibiting living wage legislation, or similar forms of compensation by counties or municipalities.

Occasionally, the legislature does accomplish something of value to their constituents and at times it can seem downright progressive. Utah stands as a beacon across the US on community planning, and this year, the Utah legislature should be congratulated for passing HB211, Integrity of Election Results Amendments. This bill guarantees a voter verifiable auditable paper trail of each vote cast and creates a Voter Equipment Selection Committee that includes members from the computer, security, and auditing professions. It also requires public testing and hearings before any equipment can be purchased. The committee will also have access to proprietary computer code and will report annually to the Elections office on its findings.

In the last election, Utah proved to have the most accurate results in the nation, using punch card machines. However, this incredibly partisan legislature wants to ensure that we continue to have the most accurate elections anywhere. Although the legislation may not be exactly what we hoped for, it is a giant step in the right direction. They have taken the proper steps to ensure that before the purchase of any e-voting machines, there will be proper input from professionals and the public.

Progressives in Utah, including The Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus and Democracy for Utah, worked with the bill’s original sponsor, Republican James Dougal, to include the paper trail language and worked on other aspects of the language including the proprietary code. We then mobilized our base to call their legislators and to attend the committee hearings. This just goes to show you that when it’s the right thing to do, you can build broad support across the political spectrum. Maybe next year we’ll get them to pass legislation that upholds a citizen’s right to vote.

For the bill text: http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2005/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0211S01.htm
For a report on the Utah Legislative session: http://www.sltrib.com/utahpolitics
Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus www.udpc.org
Democracy for Utah www.democracyforutah.org

Laura Bonham