Law and Criminal Justice

National Governors Association
National Association of Secretaries of State
National Conference of State Legislatures
Council of State Governments
National Association of Counties
National League of Cities
U.S. Conference of Mayors
National Association of Towns and Townships
National Association of Election Officials
National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks
International Association of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers

September 18, 2007

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker The Honorable Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader

United States House of Representatives United States House of Representatives

H-232 Capitol Building H-107 Capitol Building

Washington, D.C. 20515 Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Joint Letter Regarding H.R. 811

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer:

The undersigned organizations representing state and local governments across the nation respectfully urge you to resist bringing H.R. 811, the “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007”, to the House floor during the first session of the 110^th Congress.

The majority of states already require a voter-verified paper record of every voter’s vote. H.R. 811 would preempt those laws, requiring states to replace equipment they purchased to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 – even if it already offers a voter-verified paper trail – with technology that does not exist yet. As a result, it imposes an unfunded federal mandate of unknown proportions. In addition, it contains unnecessary and overly broad requirements for many states to enact hasty changes to their voting laws in the 14 months remaining between now and the 2008 Presidential election.

Achieving meaningful and functional election reform requires an intergovernmental partnership among federal, state and local units of government. However, state and local officials were not adequately involved in the process of drafting and vetting this legislation and it is fraught with problems. We urge you to ask the House Administration Committee to bring state and local officials to the table to work together to write legislation that has meaningful and realistic standards and allows sufficient time, flexibility and funding for implementation to assure every American voter of the integrity of our elections.

For additional information on our organizations’ concerns with H.R. 811, please have your staff contact any of the individuals listed below.

Sincerely,

National Governors Association (NGA)

David Parkhurst, 202-624-5328
dparkhurst@nga.org

National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS)

Leslie Reynolds, 202-624-3526
reynolds@sso.org

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
Susan Parnas Frederick, 202-624-3566
susan.frederick@ncsl.org

Council of State Governments (CSG)

Jim Brown, 202-624-5460
jbrown@csg.org

National Association of Counties (NACo)
Alysoun McLaughlin, 202-942-4254
amclaughlin@naco.org

National League of Cities (NLC)

Christina Fletcher Loftus, 202-626-3173
loftus@nlc.org

U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM)

Larry Jones, 202-861-6709
ljones@usmayors.org

National Association of Towns and Townships (NATaT)
Andrew Seth, 202-331-8500
aseth@ftgnet.com

National Association of Election Officials (Election Center)
Doug Lewis, 281-293-0101
dlewis@electioncenter.org

National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks (NACRC)
Whitney Bertram, 800-497-5128
whitney@imiae.com

International Assn of Clerks, Recorders, Election Officials and Treasurers (IACREOT)

Tony Sirvello, 800-890-7368
tjsthree@msn.com