title
A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, urging the United States Congress to extend the deadline for compliance with the provisions for the Help America Vote Act.
body
WHEREAS, Section 102 of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires that certain states using lever or punch card voting systems replace those systems in time for the first election for federal office held after January 1, 2006; and
WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of the states affected by this deadline for HAVA compliance; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Department of State had certified only two voting systems as HAVA-compliant as of mid-December 2005, has still, as of April 10, 2006, certified only 12 voting systems in this fashion, with eight of those certifications being granted only with restrictive conditions attached, and has not certified any voting systems that provide voters with a verifiable paper record of their choices; and
WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania Department of State notified Allegheny County in mid-April that the voting system that the County had intended to purchase would not be granted certification; and
WHEREAS, Allegheny County has therefore been forced to purchase a voting machine that was not originally selected by its Board of Elections and which does not provide a voter verified paper record; and
WHEREAS, the vendor that produces the voting system to be purchased has indicated that it can only provide the County with a fraction of the approximately 4,700 voting machines that it would require for a full voting system replacement before the May 16, 2006 Primary Election date, and this circumstance has forced the County to adopt an unusual, hybrid voting system that incorporates both direct record electronic and optical scan voting for that election; and
WHEREAS, the lack of flexibility in the deadline for HAVA compliance and the delays inherent in the certification process have effective...
Click here for full text