Boswell Latest Paper Trail Sponsor
by Sean Flaherty
If you live in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District (or for that matter, anywhere else) and you are concerned about election integrity, thank Congressman Leonard Boswell (contact information). Boswell became H.R. 550’s 191st co-sponsor last week (list of co-sponsors). H.R. 550, as is often said on this blog, is hands down the strongest election integrity bill yet proposed in the U.S. Congress.
Susan McAvoy, Rep. Boswell’s legislative director, said in a telephone call today that Boswell has watched with growing concern the voting problems across the country, and sees an urgent need for Congress to act to ensure that our election results are accurate. Another important fact: “It’s a bipartisan bill,” she said, and added that there is a realistic chance of it reaching the floor.
It is indeed bipartisan, with a cosponsor list that includes Republicans as diverse as Appropriations Committee power Frank Wolf of Virginia, Iowa’s moderate Jim Leach, and the very conservative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania. The bill would govern federal elections only. It would require a voter-verified paper record of every vote and establish that the paper record would also serve as that official ballot in a recount. It would also require a hand audit of at least 2% of the precincts in the nation, including one precinct per county. Under 550, voting system software would have to be publicly disclosed and available for any citizen to review, and no conflicts of interest between voting machine companies and voting machine testing laboratories would be allowed.
The bill continues to build momentum, gaining 23 new co-sponsors in the last three months. It still needs more support, so if you live in Mr. King’s, Mr. Latham’s, or Mr. Nussle’s district, put the pressure on.