Pam Smith, President of VerifiedVoting, editorial in the NJ Times <read> pointing out how long it has taken New Jersey to actually obtain paper ballot election equipment:
Why hasn’t New Jersey done in three years what New Mexico, Connecticut, North Carolina and other states — even Florida! –were able to do in far less time?
The New Jersey Legislature passed a requirement for a voter-verifiable paper record of each vote cast nearly three years ago. The 2005 law required voter- verified paper records by January 2008, an eminently feasible deadline. (It even added a cutting-edge audit law this January, requiring random checks on the paper records to make sure the machines are counting accurately.)
Unfortunately for NJ without paper, they cannot implement the “cutting-edge” audit law. But lets not rest on our (Mountain) Laurels and give up the “Nutmeg State” nickname. We need a cutting-edge audit law and dramatically improved chain-of-custody so we can use the paper, otherwise Connecticut and New Jersey will both remain State’s of Illusion. (See Myth #10 )
Update…believe it or not, NJ has an even more publicity challenged voting machine vendor than we have <read and weep for NJ>
