I'm in Orange County, California. We are one of the many counties in CA using the electronic voting machines, except mine was actually quite spiffy.
No touch screen, first off. Instead, there was a scroll wheel that you were supposed to use. Perhaps a bit more complicated to the user than a touch screen, its still easier on the program.
The UI was actually quite simple. Scroll to select option, hit enter, scroll to get to next area, and repeat. It gives you a chance to review your ballot, and then you hit the big red button to submit your ballot. Easy.
As for accountability, there's an easy way to do it that should be in place. Throw in a cheap laser printer into each one, and print out the ballot results. The voter checks the hard-copy to confirm, and turns that into the election center. If the ballots are ever questioned, you have a large stack of print-outs to confirm!
Sure, its a cost increase, for both the printers and paper, but that should remove almost all doubt.
Slashdot Mirror
That is absurdly impressive. A 4 GB HD that tiny... You just know that thing's going to be in every single MP3 player 2 years from now.
I'm in Orange County, California. We are one of the many counties in CA using the electronic voting machines, except mine was actually quite spiffy. No touch screen, first off. Instead, there was a scroll wheel that you were supposed to use. Perhaps a bit more complicated to the user than a touch screen, its still easier on the program. The UI was actually quite simple. Scroll to select option, hit enter, scroll to get to next area, and repeat. It gives you a chance to review your ballot, and then you hit the big red button to submit your ballot. Easy. As for accountability, there's an easy way to do it that should be in place. Throw in a cheap laser printer into each one, and print out the ballot results. The voter checks the hard-copy to confirm, and turns that into the election center. If the ballots are ever questioned, you have a large stack of print-outs to confirm! Sure, its a cost increase, for both the printers and paper, but that should remove almost all doubt.