Maine Now Requires a VVPT on All Election Equipment 

Maine's Governor signed into law LD1759, a bill that requires a voterifiable paper trail on all election equipment in the state.

The following email was received by VerifiedVoting.org today (April 27, 2004)

Hannah informs us that LD1759 was signed by Governor Baldacci last =
Thursday!  No unverifiable, paperless touchscreens or Internet voting in =
our state, thank you very much. =20

This was truly a team effort, with Rep Pingree at the helm.  We can all =
be proud that, once again, Maine is in the forefront nationally.  And we =
can be thankful that we will be spared the electoral calamities that =
have befallen Florida, Maryland, Georgia, California, etc. (except that =
those disasters will reverberate here in Maine, just as Florida's did in =
2000, unfortunately). =20

In that vein, I have it on good authority that there is renewed effort =
afoot on the federal e-voting front.  We know that this issue has =
multipartisan appeal and that some well-placed pressure, coupled with a =
little publicity (or the threat thereof), can make a huge difference.  =
We'll keep you all informed as new opportunities for activism develop on =
this front.  (BTW, here is a recent AP piece on the growing national =
trend we are part of, and, yes, I did inform that reporter of our =
success, for any future stories she might write on the subject.)=20

Thanks again to all of you, and please pass the good news along.  Let's =
keep on slugging in all our various arenas.  Punches are landing and =
this is no time to let up.

And don't let the bastards grind you down!

Best,

Bruce =20

ps. Here in Maine, we still have to bird-dog the status of the disabled =
access voting technology, so that that part of the law can be d =
before the purchasing moratorium runs out next March.  I would =
appreciate being informed at any time of any developments in the =
industry relating to certification of sight-impared access coupled with =
sighted verifiability, so that the disabled-access exception can be =
taken off the books next session.