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Florida Literally Scraps Touch-Screen Voting

Posted by kdawson on from the do-not-want dept.

Kaseijin writes "Florida Governor Charlie Crist is getting his wish. The New York Times reports the state will replace touch-screen voting machines with optical-scan models by July 1, 2008 — the most aggressive timetable of any jurisdiciton rethinking this approach to voting. The touch-screen machines most likely will be sold to other jurisdictions or stripped for parts."

13 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. great idea by ILuvRamen · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think we should buy one for each Slashdot 10th anniversary party and smash them.

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  2. Translation: by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    sold to other jurisdictions We don't trust 'em, but you should!
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    "The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
    1. Re:Translation: by Pete+LaGrange · · Score: 5, Insightful

      These should be returned to the manufacturer as unfit for intended purpose and a full refund extracted.

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      loyalty above all, save honor
    2. Re:Translation: by lenski · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My favorite use for touchscreen ex-voting machines would be to drive a printer that generates human-readable ballots. Said ballots would be perfectly fine to count either by optical-scan readers or normal unaided humans.

      Touchscreen "ballot printers" would go a long way toward eliminating overvotes and reducing undervotes (since a voter must be permitted to abstain from a particular race or issue).

      As long as the Official Legal Ballot is durable and readable by unaided humans. The human can then manually scan his/her selections on the paper ballot before committing it to the official count. If the touchscreen system failed to record the voter's intent accurately, the voter can place the the machine-printed ballot in a rejection pile and fill in a paper ballot using manual methods (pencil, pen, etc.)

      The point is that the voter must be able to audit his/her voting selections on the official legal record before committing it to the secure but open vote counting process.

    3. Re:Translation: by AuMatar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The decision not to use highly insecure and completely unauditable machines to elect our leaders with? Yes, that decision should be forced an everyone.

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    4. Re:Translation: by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Uh, please give me one good reason why municipalities should be given the option of using highly insecure, no-physical-record, easily hacked "voting" machines in elections that influence the entire nation?

      By your logic, we should allow states to allocate their delegates to the Electoral College by coin toss, cockfight, or single combat, if a bunch of political appointees in that state think it's a bright idea.

      I think we should rigorously enforce some sort of minimum standard of quality for elections. Above and beyond that, sure, states can choose what brand and type of machines they want. But we all have an interest in making sure that elections are fair, unbiased, and transparent. Auditless electronic voting systems prohibit that by design, and for that reason they ought to be illegal. Leave them for supermarket taste-tests where they belong.

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  3. Parts? by Klaidas · · Score: 4, Funny

    Stripped for parts? Am I the only one thinking there won't be much of a demand for those? :/

    1. Re:Parts? by rizzo320 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I bet the touch screens could be disconnected and used for other purposes.

    2. Re:Parts? by AsmordeanX · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If they put them on ebay I bet hackers and geeks would swarm the auctions. A cheap (depending on what they want for it) VGA touch screen, small PC that you might be able to install a different OS to?

      Sadly though, those $5000 machines will probably only sell for $200 tops online.

    3. Re:Parts? by rizzo320 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's a version of linux for just about everything :-)

  4. Re:Will the new system be any more reliable? by jackb_guppy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nope. Not on the ones I have used.

    1) you fill them out with a special black pen.
    2) if you make a mistake, ask for new sheet and start again.
    3) you place it into the optical scanner.
    4) Green Light - your ballot is correct and you are done.
    5) Red Light - you get a new ballot and start again.

    Advantages:
    Positive and Negative feedback if the ballot is clean and correct.
    Voter SEES what is they choose, clearly.

    Disadvantages:
    Paper pile. But need only until election is confirmed.

  5. Auditing. by headkase · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm stunned that in the first place a system that could not be 100% audited was allowed to be used in the first place! Seriously, even though politicians don't seem to give a damn what you think the voting process is supposed to be a key-stone of democracy. If you can't trust the ballots you can't trust the system. It's fundamental.

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    Shh.
  6. Re:It wont matter by WPIDalamar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Also won't matter since Florida voters can't seem to figure out the whole voting thing anyways...