January 18, 2008 11:13 AM

Bill to ensure sure-fire voting system fix gets swift House approval

By Alan Gathright

House lawmakers approved a bipartisan bill dubbed the "first step in...restoring confidence of the voters in the our 2008 election" with swift voice vote.

HB 1155 would give Secretary of State Mike Coffman the greater flexibility he wants to quickly approve now-decertified voting equipment after testing of modifications confirms they’re reliable. Coffman last month deemed most of the voting machines in the state unreliable and vulnerable to vote tampering.

"This is simply a first step in the process of restoring confidence of the voters in the our 2008 election," Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, who co-sponsored the legislation with Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver.

Balmer said that HB 1155 is "not the cure-all." "There are going to be other bills that we will consider in the coming weeks that will be more global on the 2008 electoin."

But he said the proposal will strengthen Colorado's already-tough voting-equipment standards. And it will allow equipment-savvy county election officials, who had been locked out of voting-machine testing by a 2006 lawsuit ruling, to do the hands-on testing while other officials watch.

To boost public confidence in the transparency of the process, lawmakers amended the bill to ensure equipment testing along with meetings and reports on machine certification are open the public under state open meetings and open records laws.

Posted by Alan Gathright at 11:13 AM | Comments (6)