Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey recently introduced the "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" (H.R.550), an enhanced version of the bill he put forward in the last session of Congress (H.R.2239). This bill is the "gold standard" of voter verifiability legislation, incorporating not only a requirement for voter-verified paper ballots but also provisions requiring mandatory manual audits to confirm that voting machines are working properly, as well as increased security requirements, prohibiting undisclosed software, and more.

As we did last session, VerifiedVoting.org supports this bill in the strongest possible terms, and urges its immediate passage. And although it already has over 113 co-sponsors, there are still some representatives who co-sponsored the bill last session but have yet to co-sponsor this session's stronger bill.

Voter-verified paper ballots make it possible to recover from e-voting machine malfunctions, such as those experienced last year in California, Georgia, North Carolina, and elsewhere, without having to re-run a costly election from scratch.

Passage of this bill means that all the states and counties still seeking to purchase new voting equipment can only buy systems which can provide a voter-verified paper ballot. It is far easier and more cost-effective to start out with a verifiable system than to retrofit!

To pass quickly, voter-verified paper ballot legislation must have strong bi-partisan support. You can make the difference. Make sure your Representative--a co-sponsor on last session's H.R.2239--co-sponsors the critically important H.R.550 now.

Take Action Today! Visit VerifiedVoting.org's Action Center at http://hq.demaction.org/dia/organizations/vevo/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=459