Rep. Holt's Bill H.R. 811

H.R. 811, The Voter Confidence & Increased Accessibility Act, was introduced to the House on February 5, 2007. It has 192 cosponsors. It needs 218 to pass if all House members vote.

It's status, cosponsors, and text are maintained on the Library of Congress's legislative web site: http://thomas.loc.gov

H.R. 811 Home
text of H.R. 811 (with links to U.S. Code)

An unofficial summary may be read here.

Web pages supporting H.R. 811:

Rep. Holt's web site: Q & A about H.R. 811
PFAW, Analysis of H.R. 811: ... Separating Myth from Fact , includes both PFAW arguments for and counterarguments.
Avi Rubin, Johns Hopkins University, The New Holt Bill on Avi's blog
Common Cause and MoveOn, details

Web pages critical of H.R. 811:

Essential Revisions to HR 811 by Black Box Voting, PDA, VelvetRevolution.us, Voter Action, VotersUnite.Org, etc., including:
- Don't call VVPATs paper ballots.
- Ban DREs rather than upgrading/replacing them
- Encourage low tech innovation - don't require "conversion of the printed content into accessible media" via computers
- Eliminate exemption to hand counting in certain cases.
- Exempt true COTS software/firmware from public disclosure, but require it to be escrowed and available under confidentiality.
- Don't allow any part of the voting system to be connected to the Internet. Ban transmission of overseas ballots via the Internet.
- Extend EAC only through 2008, not indefinitely.
PFAW, Analysis of H.R. 811: ... Separating Myth from Fact , includes both PFAW arguments for and counterarguments.
Nancy Tobi and Paul Lehto, OpEdNews, Stopping H.R. 550 Because We Can't Compromise on Democracy
Kathy Dopp, ElectionArchive.org, Critical changes are needed to Holt HR811
Bruce O'Dell, Holt's HR 811, A Deceptive Boondoggle -- 10 Blunders to Fix

Related resources:

How a bill becomes law . This is a simplified outline of how a bill goes through Congress, outlining 14 steps. Most bills don't make it; the article says that "the 105th Congress (1997-98) considered 13,882 pieces of legislation. A total of 354 became Public Laws."
S.559, Sen. Nelson (Fl), Senate version
- S. 559 Home
- Differences between H.R. 811 and S. 559:
  - S. 559's title is "Vote Integrity and Verification Act of 2007";
    H.R. 811's title is "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007"
  - S. 559 does not include section 327 (which is opposed by activists), which exempts State mandated automatic recounts from the bill's audit procedures.
  - S. 559 adds section 7: "Prohibition on campaign activities by election administration officials."
Why current DREs won't satisfy H.R. 811