When Maryland voters return to the polls in 2008, they could be checking the accuracy of their votes with a printed paper record. They might also be deciding whether to allow early voting in the 2010 election.
“The paper trail is the number one issue for us,” said Del. Sheila Hixson, D-Montgomery, who has proposed a bill to require voter-verifiable paper records on all voting machines before the next election. Hixson also chairs the House committee that will consider the legislation.
A bill to add printers to the state?s touch-screen voting machines passed the House last year, but stalled in the Senate because of fears that trying to introduce a verifiable paper trail in time for the 2006 gubernatorial election would cause chaos.
Critics have also argued that the additional equipment would be too expensive, create additional work for already strapped local election boards and make the voting record vulnerable to fraud.
But with more breathing room before the next campaign season begins in earnest, Sen. Joan Carter Conway, D-Baltimore City, said the chances were good that the bill would pass both chambers this session.
“It?s a high priority. It impacts everyone in the state,” she said. “I think you?ll see a paper trail get done this year.”
Democratic senators also introduced a constitutional amendment to allow voters to vote at designated polling places prior to Election Day. Efforts to introduce early voting for last fall?s election failed after the state Court of Appeals ruled in August that the legislation was unconstitutional.
A constitutional amendment requires approval by three-fifths of the General Assembly and the majority of the state?s voters in the next statewide election.
Hixson also introduced a bill to extend the deadlines to register to vote and apply for an absentee ballot. She said a hearing on the verifiable voting bill could come as early as the last week in January.
