Law and Criminal Justice

Law and Criminal Justice

August 1, 2007

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives
The Capitol
Room H-232
Washington, DC 20515

RE: NCSL urges opposition to H.R. 811, the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accountability Act of 2007”

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

On behalf of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), I urge you to oppose H.R. 811, the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accountability Act of 2007” because it is overly preemptive of state laws governing election administration, creates an unfunded federal mandate of unknown proportions and seeks to micromanage state and local election administration procedures to such a degree as to make its provisions impossible to implement. H.R. 811 represents the antithesis of state flexibility and rejects the idea of an intergovernmental partnership on election reform matters. The process of drafting, vetting and including all relevant stakeholders, which includes NCSL and other state and local government groups never took place, leaving this bill fraught with problems. The state impact of this bill was never considered, and compromises were made without including the state perspective.

If passed, HR 811 will require states to have voting systems that provide a paper receipt or “trail” of the voter’s ballot choices. While most states agree with the concept of H.R. 811-- that there ought to be some sort of paper trail, concurrence with the requirements of H.R. 811 end there. Direct Recording-Electronic voting machines, or “DRE’s” are not deemed to be compliant with the provisions of HR 811, so these machines will either need to be scrapped or retrofitted with a paper printer – both are expensive. It further requires states to implement a one-size-fits-all audit scheme that is not based on any state’s current practices and would therefore preempt laws in all 50 states. The audit process contemplated by HR 811 would also be very expensive. Several states rejected audit provisions similar to HR 811’s because they were cost prohibitive - Indiana and Virginia are two such states.

There is no secure funding mechanism in place for the mandates contained in H.R. 811. Preliminary CBO estimates place the state cost between $1.7-2.0 billion. There is no guarantee that states will receive a dime of federal money to implement H.R. 811. This will be just one more unfunded federal mandate falling upon the shoulders of the states.

Again, I urge you to vote against H.R. 811 and ask that this bill not move to the floor of the House prior to the August recess. The ramifications of hasty action on this ill-conceived piece of legislation are immense and far-reaching. A more deliberate approach and the opportunity to further work on this legislation with NCSL and other state and local government groups is vital to ensuring fair and full elections for all Americans. If you have any questions, please contact NCSL staff Susan Parnas Frederick at 202-624-5400 or by email at susan.frederick@ncsl.org. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Leticia Van de Putte
Texas Senate
President
National Conference of State Legislatures

Cc: Members of the House of Representatives