Tennessee: GOP moves to repeal Tennessee paper ballot law | The Tennessean

A plan to require paper ballots in next year’s elections is on the verge of being repealed, the latest in a series of actions taken by Republicans in the state legislature to rewrite Tennessee election laws.

State representatives are trying to reverse most of a 2008 law that called for the replacement of electronic voting machines across the state with paper ballots read by computerized scanners. The move would kill off a plan that supporters say would create a verifiable record of votes but opponents say will be costly and open to tampering.

Tennessee: Sumner County leaders oppose possible paper ballot mandate in Tennessee | The Tennessean | tennessean.com

Members of the Sumner County Commission recently voted to send a proposal to state legislators to either repeal or fund a bill currently being considered that mandates the use of paper ballots in local elections.

“We just purchased new machines that are electronic, and if they mandate paper ballots we’ll have to go to a new system,” County Executive Anthony Holt said. “It could be in the range of $300,000 to buy the new required scanning machines and have them stored. That’s going to be a huge fiscal impact.”

South Carolina: Voting Machine Critics Get Their Day in the South Carolina Senate | Free Times

After a Senate panel heard testimony on April 14 from a handful of election watchdogs critical of the state’s system of electronic voting machines, a rather testy exchange took place in the hallway. “You guys have a tough job,” said USC computer scientist Duncan Buell to Chris Whitmire, the spokesman for the South Carolina State Election Commission. “You have a really tough job, but you’re in deep denial about reality.”

Buell has blasted the state agency in charge of South Carolina’s voting machines for some time. In February, after an independent audit he conducted with another computer expert, the two compiled a report that illustrated how the agency failed to count more than 1,000 votes in the November elections in Richland County alone.

Washington: Pierce County Washington’s polls are closed, scanners sent packing – State now all vote-by-mail | The News Tribune

There’ll be no last hurrah for Pierce County’s optical-scanner voting machines. No red-white-and-blue farewell to the last traditional polling places in Washington. No one-last-chance for 85-year-old Erika Cranmer of Lakewood to exercise the democracy she cherishes so by helping conduct an election at her neighborhood polling place; nor for 90-year-old Morry Kenton of Gig Harbor to make his 70th in-person trip to a traditional voting station.

We all knew the Legislature approved statewide all-mail voting last month, forcing Pierce County – the only holdout – to fall in line with the state’s other 38 counties. Close your polls, legislators said. All-mail elections are more cost-effective.

Tennessee: GOP majority revising state election laws – Voter ID bills among proposals to amend process | Knoxville News Sentinel

Mandating photo identification for voting is just one part of a reshaping of Tennessee election laws by the Legislature’s Republican majority that also includes resolution of a three-year dispute over installing new voting machines statewide.

In a compromise last week, Republicans backed off of bills to repeal outright the Voter Confidence Act of 2008, which mandated use of $37 million in federal funds to place machines providing a paper trail for ballots in all 95 Tennessee counties.

South Carolina: Bipartisan support for paper trail voting in South Carolina | Examiner.com

It’s no secret that opposing political parties frequently disagree. But when it comes to voting machines currently used in their state, South Carolina Democrats and Republicans unite in demand for improvement.

Distrust in the use of electronic voting machines is noted in the 2011 resolutions of both state parties.  Both call for changes to include verification, if not complete replacement, by paper records.

Tennessee: Tennessee Voter Confidence Act May Be Delayed Again | WSMV Nashville

The state of Tennessee is supposed to move to using only paper ballots by the time voters head to the polls in 2012. But some lawmakers are looking to stop that, saying that communities just can’t afford to make the switch. The Tennessee Voter Confidence Act has already been delayed once, but it could be delayed again or done away with completely, and those who support paper ballots said that could put votes in jeopardy of being compromised.

The Voter Confidence Act originally required everyone in Tennessee to use paper ballots to cast their vote by the 2010 election.”Having an independent audit trail is key to any fair election,” said Joe Irrera, a paper ballot advocate. But early last year, lawmakers delayed implementation until 2012, saying election officials needed more time.

Tennessee: Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett cites people as culprits | Cleveland Daily Banner

There were no comments while Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett presented a brief overview of his job — until he began talking about elections. After his speech Thursday in front of the Kiwanis Club of Cleveland, a member said the voting machines used in Tennessee do not have a recorded paper trail and could be hacked in five minutes.

“I don’t think they can be hacked in five minutes, but there is no perfect machine,” he said. “As long as we have people who want to commit fraud, they are going to find a way to commit it regardless of what kind of machine we have. Machines are not the culprit. People are the culprit”