Honorable ____________________
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

I am your constituent, and I am writing to thank you for co-sponsoring Rush Holt's H.R. 2239, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003.

Serious voting irregularities have already occurred in many states due to the use of electronic voting machines. Even when these machines appear to function correctly, no one can prove that the results they produce are correct unless they provide a voter-verifiable paper trail.

Computer security means more than safety from hackers. It means that the results of normal operation can be independently proven to be correct. The fact that most electronic voting systems have been designed without the capacity for independent audit of the initial receipt and electronic recording of the ballots, nor of the final tallies, is a warning that these systems are not fit for use.

It is inappropriate for American voters to "trust" computers to record and count our votes when they provide no way to perform an independent audit of the ballots cast or the final tallies.

The only way current technology provides for us to confirm the correct operation of these electronic voting systems is for them to print a voter-verifiable permanent, unalterable, physical paper ballot with the voter's choices, which the voter can verify while still in the voting booth.

For this reason I am grateful for your co-sponsorship of Rush Holt's bill, and I hope that you can persuade some of your colleagues to join you as co-sponsors.