A New Jersey Democratic congressman yesterday introduced legislation that would offer $600 million to jurisdictions that convert to paper ballot systems or update voting machines to provide verifiable paper trails before next fall's presidential election.

The bill, called the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008, would reimburse state and local jurisdictions if they change their systems before the November balloting, said Rep. Rush Holt, sponsor.

Voters in all or parts of 20 states now cast ballots electronically without backup paper verification, Mr. Holt said. "Millions of Americans will be voting on unreliable electronic machines without paper ballots," he said. "There will be questions that cannot be resolved, because there is no way of determining a voter's intention. All you have is an electronic memory. This plan provides an incentive for states or localities that want to do the right thing."

Last year, Mr. Holt introduced legislation, still pending in the House, requiring routine random audits and a voter-verified paper trail for every vote cast.

Allegheny is one of 54 counties in Pennsylvania that use a type of electronic machine that lacks a printer meeting the standards and procedures that Mr. Holt proposed in his bill last year. The county's 4,600 touch-screen machines don't produce a verifiable paper trail.

The New Jerseyan's new legislation would authorize $500 million to reimburse jurisdictions now using paperless voting machines after they convert to paper-based systems. It would also reimburse localities that don't fully convert to a paper-based system, but provide emergency paper ballots that would be counted as regular ballots in the event of machine failure.

Additionally, it would authorize $100 million for jurisdictions that conduct audits that meet minimum requirements.

"We're still reviewing this piece of legislation," said Leslie Amoros, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees election matters.

Mr. Holt's new bill does not mandate states to change their voting systems. "It simply provides an incentive for states that want to make changes," Holt spokesman Zach Goldberg said.

"This is wonderful legislation, and it's very important for Pennsylvania," said Marybeth Kuznik, executive director of VotePA, a voting rights group. "We have a number of counties that would like to update their machines but don't have the money to do it."