Next Steps

The Voter Verifiable Paper Records bill that passed in the 2007 General Assembly is now law in the state of Maryland. We congratulate all those involved in making this landmark legislation a reality.

But does that mean the job is done? Hardly. Enactment of this legislation only starts the clock ticking on a multi-year plan to fully implement accessible, voter-verified elections in Maryland. The goal we share is to make Maryland a national leader in verifiable election administration. The necessary steps in this process are:

To assist in the development of a funding and procurement plan for the FY 2009 state budget (2008 General Assembly session) in order to fully upgrade Maryland's voting system to Optical Scan technology by 2010.
To study and assess alternative uses or redeployment options for the state's existing inventory of DRE voting machines in order to realize the current system’s residual value.
To cooperate in the development of a system of post-election, pre-certification audits: Audits that are cost effective and statistically accurate in order to validate election outcomes and evaluate election practices.
To assist in the implementation of a voter education program for the new voting system.
To help develop a campaign to recruit and train a new generation of election judges.

Transitioning to Paper Ballots/ Optical Scan gives us an opportunity to create a broad based process that brings together citizens from legislative, scientific, governmental, and advocacy communities, with professionals on the Boards of Election. Our goal is to have Maryland become a leader in verifiable elections administration.

Won't you join us? Please contact us to learn how you can help in this effort.

Thank you.