The House passed Senate File 369,
and the bill should be signed by Governor Culver soon. By November
2008, all voting machines in Iowa will a voter-verified paper trail.
Better still, Iowa will eventually phase out direct-recording
electronic voting machines (“DREs”) and use only optical scan voting systems, in which the votes are recorded directly on paper ballots. 

Great as this news is, we have a lot of work ahead of us.  Iowa needs to join the 13 states that require a routine hand audit
of computer vote tallies. Even with optically scanned paper ballots,
vote are tallied electronically. A team of computer scientists
concluded last year that hand audits are not optional; without them,
paper records and paper ballots are of questionable security value.
We also need to work for disclosure of election software, greatly
reducing the role of voting machine companies in the administration of
elections, and further measures to secure the vote.

In the
coming weeks, Congress will take up federal legislation on voting
systems. We will keep you informed about what you can do to see that
strong federal legislation becomes law.

For now, though, a big thank you
to all who have contacted legislators, signed petitions, and spread the
word about verified voting.  It is always rewarding to be part of this
citizen movement, but never more so than this week.