January 16, 2008 2:16 PM

Lawmakers announce new election plan

A coalition of bipartisan lawmakers today introduced a bill designed to stave off a looming November election fiasco.

House Bill 1155 would prohibit Secretary of State Mike Coffman from relaxing existing standards for voting systems and requires him to spell out the reasons for any decision to amend or rescind certification of electronic voting machines.

"We need a certain number of electronic machines in order to comply with federal law," the lawmakers said in a statement. "But we believe that the votes cast in 2008 should be recorded on paper."

The bill, by Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, and Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, would give Coffman broad authority to recertify some electronic voting machines and approve them for use in 2008 elections, easing county clerks' fears of a potential election meltdown.

Federal law requires counties to provide electronic voting machines for the disabled voters.

Last month, Coffman tossed election planning a curve ball when he announced that thousands of electronic voting machines used in all but 12 counties were too flawed for use.

Since his controversial decision, Coffman has been asking lawmakers to pass a law to streamline the rigid certification process so machines that can be fixed can be approved for use this year. Otherwise, it could take months before the appeals process could be completed, he said.

Posted by April Washington at 2:16 PM | Comments (1)