Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), who's worked for several years to get a bill passed in Congress ensuring that voters can verify their votes on paper, and that those paper ballots are counted in mandatory audits and recounts. Today, HR 811, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007, is getting close to passage.

A number of advocates who you think would cheer this development have turned instead to attacking it. Some of them are simply opposed to the federal government mandating how state elections should be run. Others are disappointed that the bill doesn't immediately outlaw DREs for the 2008 election. (What it does do is mandate that by November, 2008, every voter will have the chance to verify his or her vote on a paper ballot, and it ensures that every state will use that paper ballot in mandatory random audits. Without passage of HR 811, some 35 million voters will have to vote on paperless machines, and very few states will conduct audits.)

My colleague Barb Burt says last night's Daily Show piece on electronic voting was "the MOST PERSUASIVE argument against voting machines that I have every seen."   Watch it here.

And, I hope you saw last night's HBO documentary Hacking Democracy.  It will be repeated, so look for it. 

The "paper trail" movement has been a remarkable, truly spontaneous grassroots effort -- and hitting the Daily Show 5 days before the election is another mark of progress into mainstream consciousness.  Tell your friends about the Daily Show clip and Hacking Democracy - spread the word and we'll pass legislation to fix this problem before 2008!