French Voting Machines a "Catastrophe"

eldavojohn writes "The electronic voting machine has soured another election. Some French voters have reportedly turned away in disgust after facing up to two hours in lines to use the machines. Further, the article reports, 'Researchers at Paul Verlaine University in Metz said that trials on two of the three machines used in France showed that four people out of every seven aged over 65 could not get their votes recorded.' This article concentrates primarily on usability and efficiency, but surprisingly mentions little (aside from user trust issues) about the security embodied in the machines or whether it was satisfactory. I think all three aspects are important to anyone aiming to produce voting machines. The manufacturer of these particular machines is France Élection."

Comments

Re: Why is it....

[Black Parrot]

that what should be the a simple implementation in modern technology is an unmitigated train wreck? Is there a single current voting machine that is considered reliable? Makes you wonder how reliable the old-fashioned mechanical machines actually were, back before there was a film crew looking over every vote-counter's shoulder.

Re:So all the parties that polled badly

[Fulcrum of Evil]

The difference is that, in Florida, at least, the polling stations had delays due to deliberate underprovisioning of the machines - poor people vote democrat and there's a definite republican bias in the Florida executive branch.