Whoever the Democrats choose as their presidential candidate, and however parlous the state of the nation, the presidential race in November could be close. It could come down to a repeat of the year 2000.

If so, can the American people be confident that a close election won't be another travesty? Unfortunately, not.

When Congress passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002, it was supposed to eliminate the possibility of trouble. The bill authorized billions of dollars for states to adopt electronic voting machines according to uniform national standards. Unfortunately, serious questions have been raised about how secure and reliable the computerized machines really are.

In an attempt to safeguard the electoral system, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, a Democrat from New Jersey, introduced legislation mandating voter-verified paper ballots for the 2008 election. When that bill languished, he proposed a more modest one -- HR 5036 -- that would reimburse states seeking to have paper proof to show votes were cast as intended.

Pennsylvania is one of about 20 states where too much trust is put into electronic voting systems. While it would be possible to have a computer printout with touchscreen voting machines, state officials have taken the position that this might jeopardize the secrecy of ballots -- which may strike voters as odd, given that they now vote in a way that's less private than it was with the curtained machines.

Congress can't see the problem either. After clearing a House committee unanimously, HR 5036 became partisan. The White House declared opposition, claiming that $1 billion in unspent funds was still left from the earlier legislation. (Mr. Rush's office contends that money was meant for other things and not for this purpose.) Even if the law were redundant, the administration's support would have acknowledged the problem.

Instead, the depressing result was that supporters of HR 5036 were not able to muster the two-thirds majority needed to suspend the rules and pass the bill. In the 238-178 vote to suspend, all but 16 Republicans were opposed (Rep. Tim Murphy of Upper St. Clair was one of those in favor).

Because fair and accurate elections are a cornerstone of democracy, this should be the last issue to become partisan. A close presidential election could just as well be handed to a Democrat in the next unfair repeat of 2000. If that happens, and no sane person would wish for such a disputed outcome, Republicans can blame themselves first.