Does Voting Technology Affect Election Outcomes?

l2718 writes "Two economists have just posted a paper online, showing a small correlation between counties' use of paperless electronic voting systems and voting results in the recent presidential election (after controlling for other factors). They found no evidence for systematic fraud by testing several potential indicators. Rather, the voting method seems to affect the relative turnout of different voter demographies. Thanks to Election Law Blog for the pointer."

Comments

more /.ers

[42Penguins]

Rather, the voting method seems to affect the relative turnout of different voter demographies. Meaning: more /.ers who couldn't vote with a lever due to lack of muscle mass could now vote with the added bonus of it being on a computer!

This is arranging deckchairs on the Titanic

[Concern]

Doesn't it strike you as absolutely breathtaking that (in America) machines like this could even exist?

Paperless designs violate absolutely basic, shockingly obvious, bedrock principles of security. There is a problem simply because I often don't have the vocabulary or metaphors to express to a disinterested layman how wrong a paperless voting machine is. It's like building a bank vault to hold the most valuable thing in the entire world, and refusing to include a lock for the door.

I frankly do not care if the study didn't show malfeasance _or_ some esoteric demographic effect this time. These machines need to go. And all the people who built them, approved them, and paid for them, need to be investigated.

Re:Maybe the article is right for once?

[Garse Janacek]

That isn't the point -- most of us "alarmists" haven't alleged that there was wide-scale systematic fraud in the recent elections (though of course there is a minority that believes that). What concerns most of us is that there is no way for anyone to check, ever. Sure, maybe there was no fraud this time, but do you really think that it's good to set a precedent of unverifiable election results?

Even if they work most of the time, I'm nervous about a black-box machine with persistent (albeit non-fraudulent) technical problems just telling me who is in charge of the country without being able to provide any evidence. That's what causes the real alarm -- regardless of any fraud that did or didn't happen in the past, we need to find a way we can be reasonably sure it doesn't happen in the future, and desensitizing people to the enormous technical problems with existing e-voting systems is a huge step in the wrong direction.

Re:Diebold Errors

[Anonymous Coward]

None of the counties you listed run Diebold touchscreens.

Broward County, FL: ES&S
Franklin County, OH: Danaher Control
Craven County, NC: ES&S
Carteret County, NC: Unilect
LaPorte County, IN: ES&S
Sarpy County, NE: ES&S

Nice FUD