Name :   Laura Wingerd Organization :   ... Post Date :   9/29/2005 Section Comments Section :   6.8 Page no. :   Line no.:   Comment :   It is absurd that the voter-verified paper audit trail is "optional" under the proposed guidelines. It should be mandatory. A democracy is not a democracy without a permanent, hard-copy voting record that can be audited outside of the electronic systems used to automate the election.