Voting Systems - State-by-State

September 2008

The big change this election is the return to paper ballots. The worry: six states have 100% electronic voting machines without a paper trail, meaning there's no way for a citizen to tell if the machine has recorded the vote she cast.

Federal elections are one of the few areas where Congress has historically bowed to the Constitutional division of federal and state powers: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people" (10th Amendment).

However, in 2002, Congress interjected the federal government into how states conduct federal elections when it passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA - Public Law 107-252). Among other things, HAVA provides funds for states to replace punch card voting systems and other resources for improving federal election administration.

What technologies are being used in your state? Check this chart to find out.

Legend and notes:
DRE: direct recording electronic
VVPAT : voter-verified paper audit trail
Premiere Election Solutions is the renamed Diebold

Sources: Election Online, a project of the Election Reform Information Project which is funded by Pew Charitable Trusts, and Verified Voting, plus individual state sources.