For three consecutive sessions of Congress, Rush Holt (D-NJ) has championed the cause of voter-verified paper ballots and mandatory random manual audits to check vote tallies for accuracy. Since his bill was first introduced as HR2239 in May of 2003, people interested in transparent and reliable and publicly verifiable elections have volunteered countless hours working toward passage of his legislation. It's paying off -- the current bill (HR811) has survived the committee mark-up process with a number of improvements (and a few setbacks, but not enough to not support the bill) and will likely go to the floor for a vote soon.
Advocates ceaselessly working for reform on a state-by-state basis have accomplished significant advances as well: we've gone from a mere handful of states having any kind of requirement for voter-verified paper ballots to the latest count of 30. [Not all are yet in effect, but that's how many have addressed the issue either with passage of a bill or by putting an administrative rule in place.]
The number of states with post-election audit requirements lags behind, but it has gone from only three or four to 16, with more on the way. [Not all are doing them consistently and not all actually have something to audit, but at least a dozen are doing them.]
It should be noted that not all of the state bills that have passed are, shall we say, perfect. Or even good. Some failed to include the crucial step of auditing the vote counts for accuracy... the only thing that makes a voter-verified paper ballot matter. However, that's how things often happen in legislatures. It's rare a bill so well-crafted and comprehensive as, say, North Carolina's is able to get through in one session. In most cases, you get what you can and do clean-up in subsequent sessions -- for as long as it takes.
It therefore strikes me as sad that there's such contention about HR811's perceived imperfections and shortcomings among election advocates, considering it's a pretty darn good bill and a major leap forward on a federal level. It will change that number of states doing audits from a baker's dozen to 50. It will change the number of states with voter-verified paper ballots from 30 or so to 50.
I'm not alone; there are many of us working hard for the passage of this requirement for voter-verified paper ballots and audits nationwide that are frustrated by this. Matt Zimmerman, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is one of those who has worked hard, on the legal front as well as legislatively, for improvement of voting systems and policies. He's just posted a blog which speaks to this issue: "HR811 - Separating Truth from Fiction in E-Voting Reform" at EFF's DeepLinks. I hope you'll take a moment to read it through. It may just help you decide for yourself to support HR811 and help improve elections nationwide.