The Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill Feb. 6 aimed at creating a paper trail for the electronic voting process. The bill requires all voting districts to gradually phase out direct record electronic voting machines, also known as touch screens, in favor of optical scan tabulator systems. These machines operate electronically but leave a paper trail.
According to Julie Dime, legislative assistant to Del. Tim Hugo R-Centreville, who sponsored the bill, HB 2707 requires all broken voting machines to be replaced by optical scan machines.
These machines will ensure that voters' choices are being accurately recorded, Dime said that the paper ballots required by optical scan machines would "increase voter security and confidence."
The League of Women's Voters is also in favor of the move to optical scan tabulator systems, according to Vice President Olga Hernandez. The new machines would create "a paper trail for verification," Hernandez said, which would make voting a safer process.
Not all delegates are in favor of the bill. According to Del. Joe May R-Loudoun County, getting rid of touch screen voting machines would be "a step backward."
May said he believes changing to optical scan systems would probably not change the speed with which results are tabulated, or the ease and accuracy of voting. If voting machines go back to the old paper system, it would "deteriorate all aspects of the voting process," May said.
According to May, the current electronic voting machines are "very accurate."
Jack Washburne, the general registrar of Albermarle County, said moving from touch screen voting machines to optical systems will make it easier to find and fix any machine errors.
Washburne said students voting in Charlottesville would not see an immediate change, since not all machines would be replaced right away.
Localities experiencing an increase in voter registration or problems with their record electronic machines will be the first to receive the new scan tabulator machines, Washburne added.
"If no new machines are needed," said Washburne, "we would not necessarily see results immediately."
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