Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Maryland Governor Wants Voting Paper Trail

Posted by Zonk on from the not-just-shots-in-the-dark dept.

smooth wombat writes "Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said Wednesday that he has lost confidence in the state's ability to hold fair and secure elections this fall, and called for paper receipts for Maryland's electronic voting machines,and the delay of early-voting procedures approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature." From the article: "'In light of these recent national decertifications and the Maryland General Assembly's decision to override my vetoes ... I no longer have confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006,' said Ehrlich, a Republican, in his letter to Board of Elections Chairman Gilles W. Burger. Democrats criticized Ehrlich's apparent shift on the paper-receipt issue, noting that he vetoed a bill last year that would have studied the option. Advocates of reforming the state's voting system cheered Ehrlich's remarks, which he made a day before a Senate committee is to hold hearings on a bill that would require a paper trail. "

3 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. It's about time... by DevolvingSpud · · Score: 5, Informative
    The company I work for, RABA Technologies, was the one who did the hack-into-the-Diebold thing for Maryland; this was one of our primary recommendations to them. Like the article said:
    "A national technology consulting firm he hired to review the system in 2003 found security flaws, but state officials said they could be fixed quickly"
    Let's hope this yields a chance to fix them. Our report is here. For a funnier take on it, see my boss in this Daily Show clip.
    --
    Keep your friends close.
    Keep your enemies in a little jar on your desk.
  2. Re:Vetoes aren't as significant as you think by Peter+Mork · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well then this bill was the outlier (the exception to prove the rule?). The complete text of the bill is only 3 pages long. It does one thing:

    "The State Administrator of Elections shall study, review, and evaluate independent verification systems, including at least one system that includes a voter-verified paper audit trail, for the voting system currently used in the State."

    The bill then goes on to describe how the systems will be evaluated and by whom. The complete text is here.

  3. as a Marylander and TrueVote supporter... by frankie · · Score: 5, Informative

    The whole issue of verified voting has been mired in stupid partisan squabbling for over 4 years. The entire Demoblican duopoly deserves large shares of scorn, blame, and (in a much better universe than this one) defeat at the polls.

    1. Shortly after the Florida chad fiasco of 2000, our elections administrator Linda Lamone decided to buy DRE machines from Diebold. Voter advocacy groups weren't loud enough ($$$) to block it.
    2. TrueVote eventually started building momentum & influence, but neither Lamone (D) nor Erlich (R) were interested.
    3. Once the voting population finally made themselves heard, the state legislature (both sides) voted in favor of fixing the machines.
    4. Diebold then laughed at Maryland for failing to request paper trails previously.
    5. This week, after Erlich realized that this issue could help his reelection bid, he came out in favor of fixing the machines too. So here we are.