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A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, urging the Allegheny County Chief Executive to make all possible efforts to secure voting machines in accordance with the requirements of the Help America Vote Act, 42 U.S.C. §15301 et. seq., that allow for the creation of voter verified paper records (VVPRs) for each voter, and supporting House Bill 2000 and Senate Bill 977, each of which is currently pending in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
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WHEREAS, the Help America Vote Act, 42 U.S.C. §15301 et. seq., makes federal funding available to jurisdictions that modernize their voting systems through the purchase of new systems; and
WHEREAS, under the terms of the Help America Vote Act, Allegheny County was required to replace all lever voting systems in qualifying precincts within the County in time for the first election for federal office held after January 1, 2006 in order to qualify for this funding; and
WHEREAS, the Chief Executive and members of the Administration conducted an exhaustive evaluation of voting machines for purchase, but were not able to purchase machines that generate VVPRs, because no such machines were certified for use by the Pennsylvania Department of State; and
WHEREAS, while the Help America Vote Act does require that new voting systems purchased with the available federal funding generate a paper record that can be used to audit election results, it does not specifically require that a paper summary of individual voting decisions be made available to every voter before they confirm their selections; and
WHEREAS, the Commission on Federal Election Reform has issued the following recommendation regarding voting machines: "Congress should pass a law requiring that all voting machines be equipped with a voter verifiable paper audit trail and, consistent with HAVA, be fully accessible to voters with disabilities. This is especially important for direct recording electronic (DRE) mac...
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