March 19, 2007

Dear Member of Congress:

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) urge you to oppose H.R. 811, S. 559 or other legislation that would require dramatic changes in state and local election laws, technology and procedures.

State law controls the processes and administration of elections for federal, state and local office and the procedures and technology vary greatly across the nation. States have been extremely aggressive in addressing concerns about the security of our voting systems that arose as a result of the mandates that Congress imposed as part of the Help America Vote Act.

In addition, counties are going to great lengths to ensure administrative practices that protect the security of the voting systems and ensure the transparency of audit processes.

This legislation would exacerbate, rather than assist states and counties in addressing, these challenges which could lead to disastrous unintended consequences in the 2008 presidential election. H.R. 811 and S. 559 are a one-size-fits all approach which would rush new voting technology to market that has not even been developed without testing or certification and without adequate time for pollworker training and voter education.

Twenty-seven states have already passed paper trail laws and thirteen more are considering this approach in their current legislative sessions. In total, forty states have either passed or are considering the question of whether a paper audit trail is right for their state. States that have passed laws have done so in unique and varied ways to best meet the needs of their constituents. The pending federal legislation seeks to undermine the hard work of our nation’s state legislatures and is deeply flawed.

Even if the requirements of this legislation were realistic within the specified deadline, state and local governments are understandably skeptical of promises of federal funding for a new, multi-billion-dollar federal mandate for additional election technology and practices.

Congress has repeatedly failed to live up to its fiscal commitments under the Help America Vote Act. It neither provided timely resources to the Election Assistance Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to adopt voting systems standards as promised nor fully funded grants to the states for purchase of accessible voting equipment.

The Help America Vote Act achieved implementation of new voting equipment and procedures within a four-year timeframe without disastrous unintended consequences only because Congress carefully crafted its provisions through extended consultation and significant input from organizations representing state and local elected officials and election administrators.

To pursue a more reasoned approach on this issue, please have your staff contact or Alysoun McLaughlin with the National Association of Counties at 202-942-4254/ amclaughlin@naco.org or Susan Frederick with the National Conference of State Legislatures at 202-624-3566/susan.frederick@ncsl.org.

Sincerely,

William T. Pound,
Executive Director National Conference of State Legislatures

Larry Naake,
Executive Director National Association of Counties