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NYT Says Paperless Voting A Serious Problem

Posted by Zonk on from the no-see-ums dept.

joshdick writes "In an editorial today, the NYTimes comes out strongly in favor of a paper trail for all elections, supporting a recent lobbying effort by Common Cause and the Electronic Frontier Foundation to pass H.R. 550. 'Electronic voting has been rolled out nationwide without necessary safeguards. The machines' computers can be programmed to steal votes from one candidate and give them to another. There are also many ways hackers can break in to tamper with the count. Polls show that many Americans do not trust electronic voting in its current form; such doubts are a serious problem in a democracy.'"

6 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Broken Link by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Informative


    The link to H.R. 550 is broken in the summary, but it can be seen here.

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  2. Re:the paper trail...... by Tweak232 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Diebold was also a major bush campaign contributer...

  3. Re:the paper trail...... by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Informative


    Here's three links that support the parent:

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0828-08.ht m
    http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Diebolds_political _030504.htm
    http://www.boalt.org/biplog/archive/000546.html

    If you disagree with the parent, be a man and argue the point with him. Don't mod him as 'flamebait' merely because what he says makes you feel uncomfortable.

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  4. The PAPER is the VOTE. by khasim · · Score: 5, Informative

    The voter does NOT take the paper with him.

    The paper is so the voter can verify who the machine says he voted for.

    Then the paper vote is dropped in a sealed box.

    If there is any question about anything, the paper ballots in the box are compared to the electronic record of the machine.

    The voter does NOT take the paper with him.

  5. Why is the voting process so difficult? by FunFactor100 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm in Canada and have voted every opportunity I've had....I don't get why voting seems to be so difficult in other so called democracies. What's the deal with punching holes in ballots, using machines, etc, etc.... The way we do it here is a person hands you a piece of paper with the candidates names on it, they cross your name off a list, you mark an X beside the one you want, and you drop it in a box. Later on someone counts up the votes. I've never even had to wait in line to vote once...then again I go in the middle of the day while everyone's at work...but even when busy the lines are no longer than a 5 minute wait.

  6. Bill dead in comittee by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative
    Almost all the cosponsors are Democrats, and the bill went to the House Committee on Administration, where there has been no action.

    Read Preserving Democracy - What Went Wrong in Ohio. " "We have found numerous, serious election irregularities . . . which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters. . . . "In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio."

    Think about that for a moment. The person in charge of vote counting in Ohio was also running the Bush campaign.