Many Virginians were among the millions of voters nationwide that cast their votes on electronic voting machines which lack paper trails. Voters thus could not verify that their votes were accurately recorded, and election officials will not be able to conduct a full and thorough recount.
That's bad enough, and with the close margin in Virginia's Senate race and the U.S. Senate at stake, it is especially tragic for the entire country, regardless of who is ultimately declared the winner. Simple precautions could have been taken to prevent this and myriad other e-voting problems. Indeed, Montana fortunately requires a paper trail, which could aid a recount in its tight Senate race.
Thankfully, there's an existing solution for the whole country: Rep. Rush Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550) contains several critically important election reforms, including the requirement of a paper audit trail for all electronic voting machines, random audits, and public availability of all code used in elections. The bill has gained the support of 220 bipartisan cosponsors, and, according to Holt, it even has a chance to pass before the next Congress takes office in January.