Boxer Bill Would Mandate Paper Trail For Electronic Voting.

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer said Thursday she would introduce a bill requiring electronic voting machines to produce paper records by November 2004 to ensure accurate elections. The legislation, which Boxer and Representative Rush Holt plan to introduce early next year, also would require electronic voting companies to meet tougher security standards, including background checks for software engineers. Voting rights advocates and computer scientists have argued that paperless voting machines, such as touchscreen terminals, expose elections to hackers, software bugs and mechanical failures.