If a Georgia state senator has his way, Georgia voters will get a paper trail when casting their ballots on electronic voting machines.

The bill filed by Sen. Bill Stephens, R-Canton, would allow require voting machines to create a printout of a voter’s choices before the vote is officially cast onto the machine’s data card. The voter can then view the paper receipt to make sure his or her votes are recorded correctly and if so then touch the screen to formally approve the votes, according to SB 500.

The paper receipt would be considered a “permanent voting record” and they will be collected by election officials in a ballot box or other secure container if the bill is approved. Those containers must remain closed unless there is a recount or other contesting action filed about the election.

The requirement would be in place statewide by July 1, 2007 with the Secretary of State’s office responsible for providing the hardware, software and training needed to accomplish the task.

The bill also requires a three-county pilot program for this year’s general and runoff elections, which would be followed by a manual audit of each machine in the three counties: Cobb, Bibb and Camden.

The results of those audits will be made public after they are completed, according to the proposed legislation.

Some voters have expressed a lack of confidence in their votes being recorded appropriately since the state went to the touch screen electronic voting to tally ballots.

“Voters want to know that their electronically-cast vote counted,” Stephens said in a press release. “Our voting system is the foundation of our democracy, and the men and women in this state deserve to know that the system is safe and secure.”

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. John J. Wiles of Marietta and Cecil Staton of Macon.

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