The Rush is on

Rep. Rush D. Holt's election reform bill HR 811 is stalled despite bipartisan support. So, this coming week he's posting a new version of it to provide federal reimbursement to state and local election officials willing and ready to convert their computerized voting machines to include verifiable paper ballots for every vote in time for the November presidential election.

It also could provide roughly $500 million to replace controversial all-electronic voting systems, which have taken much heat for irregularities that decided close races including the 2000 and 2004 presidency. We desperately need that in New Jersey.

Unlike the mandatory HR 811 that's stuck in gridlock without hope of getting posted for full House vote anytime soon, this bill would reimburse states that voluntarily require election polls to use paper ballots marked by hand or on paper by computers voters use to make their choices. Polls that do not hand count paper ballots could use electronic scanners, like those used in standardized education tests, but not the voting booth computer alone. Another $100 million is set aside in the bill for public audits that would hand count at least 3 percent of the paper ballots and would pay for emergency paper ballots to be used as backup for any paperless voting machine still in use by November's general election.

State election officials reluctant to relinquish any control have been one impediment at the center of the disappointing gridlock. Holt's simplified bill allowing them to opt out while Congress goes forward with the carrot on the
stick could end up solving the problem of unverifiable election results by itself. And -- who knows? -- some state might just build that ""better mousetrap'' than HR 811 along the way.

It's to Holt's credit that he kept the eye on the prize: A presidential election result that Americans may be able to trust for the first time this millenium.