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Voting Machines Routinely Failing Nationwide

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the to-boldly-die-where-many-machines-have-died-before dept.

palegray.net writes "Voting machines in several critical swing states are causing major problems for voters. A Government Accountability Office report and Common Cause election study [PDF] has concluded that major issues identified in the last presidential election have not been corrected, nor have election officials been notified of the problems. How long can we afford to trust our elections to black box voting practices? From the article: 'In Colorado, 20,000 left polling places without voting in 2006 because of crashed computer registration machines and long lines. And this election day, Colorado will have another new registration system.'"

7 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Voting machines by HungryHobo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think it's insane that this is left to a private company to do anything more than fit the parts together.
    I mean this is the sort of thing which Open Source would be perfect for.
    There would be no shortage of coders willing to review the code and point out any problems.
    It would help with the "open" part of "open and fair" election

  2. Easy Solution... by blcamp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Paper. Pencil. Manual count. Done.

    I love tech as much as the next geek. It's my life, and my living. But sometimes, the better solutions are the simpler ones.

    --
    The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
    1. Re:Easy Solution... by snsh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Pencil? Pen!

    2. Re:Easy Solution... by shilly · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Of course it's a bad idea! At the end of the day, any computer-based system is inherently opaque and impermanent, whereas paper-based systems are inherently transparent and permanent. It requires the simplest of skills (literacy and numeracy) to check out the veracity of a paper poll, and once a mark is made it's difficult to erase. Contrast that with computer systems.

    3. Re:Easy Solution... by houghi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not only that. It provides a solution for a problem that is unrelated to the issue.

      The fact that it takes longer to count should not bother anybody. So what if the counting takes two weeks? For all I care they only release the information all at the same time one month after the election for all of the country.

      I am not interested in knowing who is the winner at 14h04. I am interested in the fact if the winner has been elected in a fair way. And if you can not bring people in to hold up your counting (by volunteers, appointing or by paying them) then perhaps you should abandon this whole democracy thing as it is clear that the people have no real interest in it.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  3. Re:Voting machines by txoof · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I mean this is the sort of thing which Open Source would be perfect for. There would be no shortage of coders willing to review the code and point out any problems. It would help with the "open" part of "open and fair" election

    You make an excellent point. A community reviewed and verifiable voting machine system is the best way to ensure that the voters have faith in the vote. Democracy as a concept is worthless if the voters have no ability to verify the vote. If voters can not have faith in the system of elections, then the voters cannot have faith in their government. Electronic voting machines are eroding voters faith in their government and faith in democracy. It's hard to convince people to trust their government if they can't even trust the system that elects the government.

    --
    This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen... --Hobbes
  4. Re:Voting machines by dpilot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Keep in mind that the message is clearly and loudly being sent:

    "Profit is the most important thing in the United States of America."

    Never in so few, or just those words, but sent nonetheless.
    "Government should not do anything that can be done by the private sector."
    "The Medicare Part 4 specifically prohibits the government from using its buying power to negotiate a better price on pharmaceuticals."
    "A company is *only* responsible to return value to its shareholders, while obeying the law."
    etc, etc, etc

    With mantras like these, what do you expect?

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.