The Iowa Senate has voted nearly unanimously to require all 99 counties to use paper ballots in the fall election. Nearly 80 counties use touch-screen machines that will have to be replaced because they don’t provide a paper ballot.
Senator Jeff Danielson, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, sponsored the legislation to help counties buy optical scanners that can read paper ballots. Danielson calls it "groundbreaking" legislation. "I describe it this way, one person, one vote, one system," Danielson says.
He says the bill modernizes Iowa’s system. Danielson says the bill is important to maintaining the importance of Iowa’s elections. Danielson says Iowa needs to lead the nation in terms of the accountability of people’s votes. The bill would spend five million dollars to help 78 Iowa counties to purchase optical scanners. Twenty-one Iowa counties already use the machines.