[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 123 (Wednesday, September 27, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S10308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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 SENATE RESOLUTION 588--TO EXPRESS THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT STATES 
    SHOULD HAVE IN PLACE BACKUP SYSTEMS TO DEAL WITH ANY FAILURE OF 
   ELECTRONIC VOTING EQUIPMENT DURING THE NOVEMBER 7, 2006, GENERAL 
                                ELECTION

  Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself and Mr. Kerry) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules and 
Administration:

                              S. Res. 588

       Whereas widespread problems with new voting technology have 
     been reported this year in primaries in Ohio, Arkansas, 
     Illinois, Maryland, and elsewhere;
       Whereas States such as Texas, Arkansas, and others have had 
     to unexpectedly administer provisional ballots after 
     electronic voting machines failed;
       Whereas equipment malfunctions in the Arkansas district 16 
     State Senate primary race precipitated a recount that, in 
     turn, produced a new winner;
       Whereas computer problems in 4 southern Indiana counties 
     required workers to manually enter the number of votes for 
     each candidate in each precinct;
       Whereas a deadline to test electronic voting machines in 
     West Virginia was pushed back to the day before the May 9 
     primary election due to problems and delays with the new 
     machines;
       Whereas glitches in the electronic voter check-in system in 
     Montgomery County, Maryland, resulted in polls remaining open 
     for additional hours and required a recount of thousands of 
     paper provisional ballots;
       Whereas 40 percent of registered voters nationally are 
     expected to cast ballots on new machines in the November 7 
     midterm elections;
       Whereas the larger number of voters participating in the 
     November 7 midterm elections may result in even more 
     equipment failures than occurred in the primary elections;
       Whereas millions of voters could be disenfranchised in the 
     November 7 midterm elections, as thousands have already been 
     in 2006 primary elections, due to the failure of electronic 
     voting machines; and
       Whereas former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and 
     former Ohio Governor Richard Celeste, co-chairs of the 
     Committee to Study a Framework for Understanding Electronic 
     Voting of the National Academies' National Research Council 
     wrote recently: ``If major problems arise with unproven 
     technology and new election procedures, the political heat 
     will be high indeed. . . . Jurisdictions need to come up with 
     contingency plans for such November problems, if they haven't 
     done so already. One possible example: Make preparations to 
     fall back to paper ballots if necessary.'': Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that each 
     State and jurisdiction that uses electronic voting equipment 
     should have in place for use in the November 7, 2006, general 
     election a backup system, such as the use of paper ballots, 
     in the case of any failure of the electronic voting 
     equipment.

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