Kudos and thank yous go to Governor Richardson, both for what he has done for voters in the state of New Mexico, and today for an oped he wrote which appeared in The Hill in support of the paper ballot bill, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.  

In the November 2004 election, many New Mexico voters were forced to vote on paperless DREs.  True to form, these machines lost votes and added votes, and generally destroyed voter confidence in the elections process.  To address the situation, the Governor proposed a plan to move the State of New Mexico to a paper ballot system.  Of course, he encountered resistance, very similar to the resistance that Members of Congress are facing today for making our voting systems reliable and secure:  "Change is bad."  It is costly.  It can't be done.  It can't be done quickly.

But with the Governor's leadership, New Mexico converted to a paper ballot system in less than a year.  This past election, the number of machine-related voting problems dropped dramatically in New Mexico.  Now we just need that kind of leadership on voting machines in Congress.  Swift.  Bold.  Decisive.

From CQ:

By voice vote, the three-member House Administration Committee task force agreed to launch a formal investigation.  They also agrees to use GAO experts to design a reliability test for the voting machines in question.

As expected, there's disagreement:

I just wanted to quickly let everyone know that the New York Times today has an editorial in praise of Sen. Feinstein's work in the Senate to require all electronic voting machines to produce a voter-verifiable paper ballot.  The headline sums up the heart of the paper ballot movement - "Making Democracy Credible."

The editorial contains some other turns of phrase that I particularly like, such as:

Common Cause sent to the US House today an Update on the status of the unsettled election in Florida's 13th Congressional District.  We called on the House to "keep and open mind" on this nonpartisan issue - whether 18,000 votes went missing in the election.  The House can choose to investigate what happened and could refuse to seat anyone in January when Congress convenes -- until the issue of the missing votes is resolved, or until there is a new election.

Here's the text of the Update:

This is a message Chellie Pingree sent from the Revote Rally in Florida:

I wanted to post a short message before I leave Sarasota and take this chance to say to all of you who joined our "virtual rally" today (or at least were thinking about it!) -- thank you!

In Sarasota, there was a great crowd-- by some estimates 1,000 people gathered together. These dedicated people came out on a beautiful sunnyafternoon, they gave up a day at the beach, or a chance to catch up on some football viewing or extra time with the grand-kids, because they thought it was important to let it be known that they were not going to stand for Florida's Congressional District 13 being the "poster child" of what is wrong with voting in our country.

You all know the story: 18,000 votes can't be accounted for and it appears that electronic voting machines are the problem. Yet some officials have argued that voters were casting their vote in the other races but somehow ignoring the highly publicized, closely contested race for the Congressional seat that most recently belonged to Katherine Harris.

Setting aside all the history for a minute, here is the important part, hundreds and hundreds of people came together today to say that they believe that what electronic voting machines did to their vote is unacceptable. There was chanting, singing, and speakers, there were demands for a REVOTE and a cry for change - people who wanted to "put their foot down" to make itclear that this can't keep happening in America.

I'll tell you a little more about what the speakers spoke of and what the angry citizens talked about, when I land back in DC and can post a few photos and write a longer tale. Until then, I wanted to pass along one thought:

After the rally speakers said their piece and the reporters and rally goers descended on me to ask questions and make connections, there was one thing that I heard more than anything else. That was that the people there were really grateful for all of you. While I was speaking I had let them know that we asked our Common Cause members all over the country to take an action I support of the rallygoers - to let Jeb Bush know that they felt a revote was essential - and over and over people came up to talk with me and to say how excited theywere to know that the rest of the country was watching and supporting them in Florida. Many of them were feeling that, once again, "Florida is the new Florida," and their problems will never be fixed. When I told people that everywhere I go and talk about the problem with voting someone asks me about FL-13, many of them were genuinely surprised, and maybe felt just a little less isolated in their outrage. So, when you wonder what difference it makes to push the button on your computer that sends an email to a politician or adds your name to a petition, I want to remind you that it does make a difference. I saw it today in the voices of voters who were chanting and waving signs demanding a REVOTE, who were demanding that their votes should matter and their voices should be heard, and in their feeling of gratitude when they knew you were there with them!

Here in the nation's capital, we're still sifting through the mess of an election in Maryland. The latest outrage: the state's election head, Linda Lamone, is hiring the Election Center, the defender of the voting mess status quo, to "audit" the recent primary elections and what went wrong. Can't wait for that report!

As I was writing I got a call from a friend and colleague in Oklahoma, expressing outrage the state of our democracy and telling me his early morning idea for our next presidential elections:

Make it simple. Voting for president will be on paper - a ballot with the candidates' names (and those pesky electors) - in those states that remain wedded to paperless electronic voting machines. My friend's a scientist, and no Luddite, so he's not against technology, but he's got the healthy skepticism of most scientists about technology. Just an idea. (Oklahoma, by the way, is OK in this regard since they have a paper trail.)

My own view is that we need to put more resources and focus into the place most people know about elections - the polling place. Pollworkers, most well-intentioned, many excellent, are a key part of the system. When they fail, either because of poor training, ignorance, maliciousness, or simply being tired, then all the laws and procedures put in place will fail too. Here's a sample of what can happen -- in the WaPo about Maryland.