SB 213 is passed, unanimously in the Georgia Senate and with only one dissenting vote in the House.

• The General Assembly appropriates $200,000 in supplemental funds to underwrite the costs of the DRE pilot project and the work of the Commission.
  
• Secretary Cox testifies before the U. S. Senate Commerce Committee on Georgia’s election reform efforts and the findings of the undervote study.
  
• National manufacturers of DRE equipment are invited to submit their equipment for Georgia certification testing.  Out of eight vendors who initiated certification, six ultimately will complete the process.
  
• Georgia municipalities begin to apply to be selected as a pilot project city, and Secretary Cox testifies before the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

Equipment certification for six vendors is completed.
Secretary of State secures discretionary funds from Governor Barnes to enable voter education efforts in each participating city, including hiring of a temporary voter education coordinator. 

U. S. Department of Justice “pre-clears” SB 213 and the DRE Pilot Project.

• Extensive schedule of education and equipment demonstration begins in each participating city.

Municipal elections held in 13 pilot cities.  Operations in jurisdictions run smoothly and initial reports from both voters and election officials are positive.

• Exit polling is conducted in the field.  Nearly 2,200 voter interviews are completed.  

Exit poll results are released.   Results show that 94.5 % of voters who had just cast votes on one of the new electronic systems agreed with the statement, “Georgia should upgrade its voting system to a system like the one I used today.”  Some 97.2 % of respondents said the equipment was “very easy” or “easy” to use and 95.9 % of those polled said they were “confident” or “very confident” that their vote was recorded correctly.  Positive results were found among all age, regional and racial groupings.

Voting Commission unanimously adopts recommendation to the Governor and General Assembly that the state select DRE equipment as its uniform system for precinct voting, and optical scan for mail-in absentee voting.

U. S. House of Representatives by a wide majority passes the Ney-Hoyer bill, which authorizes several billion dollars to states for the upgrade of election equipment.  A bipartisan compromise is announced in the Senate on its version of election reform legislation.  

The Georgia Technology Authority issues a Request For Proposal   (RFP) for a statewide voting system, seeking proposals from a firm or firms capable of providing for Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting equipment, plus optical scan voting equipment for absentee balloting in all of Georgia’s 159 counties.  

The General Assembly approves the Governor's budget request for $54 million in bonds to fund the DRE project. The FY 2002 supplemental and FY 2003 budgets also include a total of $4.5 million for the Office of Secretary of State to fund technical support, election staff training and voter education programs.

Bidding is closed for the statewide voting system. The Office of Secretary of State forms an evaluation committee, including SOS and GTA staff and retired county election officials, to review and evaluate proposals from nine bidders.  

After months of negotiation and debate, the U. S. Senate passes by a vote of 99-1 its version of comprehensive election reform legislation. Like its companion bill in the House, the Senate version authorizes billions of dollars in federal funding for states to fund the upgrade of election equipment.  The Senate bill also requires that every precinct in the nation provide at least one voting unit that permits visually impaired and disabled voters to vote independently.  A House-Senate Conference Committee is formed to work out differences between the two bills.

The evaluation committee recommends to Secretary of State Cox that Diebold Election Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Diebold, Inc. and a leading manufacturer and installer of electronic voting systems, be chosen to provide the state’s electronic voting solution.  Secretary Cox and Georgia’s Chief Technology Officer Larry Singer endorse the committee’s recommendation and negotiations between the state and Diebold commence.