Gusciora Eagerly Awaits Results of Trial Run With Paper-Verified E-Voting in Warren County

GUSCIORA EAGERLY AWAITS RESULTS OF TRIAL RUN
WITH PAPER-VERIFIED E-VOTING IN WARREN COUNTY

(TRENTON) - Assemblyman Reed Gusciora today said he is watching with considerable interest how well paper-verified electronic voting machines perform in Tuesday's primary elections in Warren County.

Gusciora (D-Mercer), who sponsored a 2005 law to require electronic voting machines to produce voter-verified paper records, said Warren County voters have a unique opportunity tomorrow to set the foundation for a system of electoral accountability that could be implemented statewide next year.

"Warren County residents tomorrow have a chance to blaze a paper trail for all New Jersey citizens who are now casting ballots with electronic voting machines," said Gusciora.  "Voter-verified ballots are the only efficient means of ensuring precision, integrity and security in this age of computer-software-aided election machines."

Gusciora's 2005 law requires that every voting machine in the state produce a paper record for each vote cast in every election.  The record would be made available for the voter to inspect and verify at the time the vote is cast.  The paper record also could be used as an official tally for later use in any manual audits.

Proponents of a voter-verified paper trail system, including computer scientists and other election experts, say such a system is a critical safeguard for the accuracy, integrity and security of computer-assisted elections. 

Warren County was selected as the testing ground for this groundbreaking effort to provide greater transparency in the voting process.  Pohatcong and Allamuchy townships implemented the new voting system in recent special elections to a high degree of success, and it is now ready to be tested in the greater county-wide legislative primary elections.

Under the legislation, the voter-verified paper record system will begin in 2008, with the newly slated February 5 presidential primary elections. 

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