Friday, February 2, 2007

Count the votes


Finally someone with authority has gotten the message that unless you can actually re-count the vote, there's no sense in having fancy voting machines. In the two counties where I've lived, I've been fortunate to have mark-sense ballots - mark a sheet of paper to fill in the box or connect the arrow. Alas, not everyone is so fortunate, and were I to have to vote on an ATM, I would be complaining to the elections board at every opportunity. Rebecca Mercuri was one of the first electronic voting experts on the news after the 2000 election heist, and she has steadfastly recommended the Mercuri method of voting: regardless of the means by which the voter expresses intent, have them verify it on a piece of paper that goes into the ballot box for re-counting should that become necessary. BlackBoxVoting.org is a repository of related information.

1 comment:

Jim said...

Sign the petition!

The bill from Rep. Holt (D-NJ) requires the following for ALL federal elections starting in 2008:

* Paper Ballots -- ALL voting machines must produce a paper ballot
* Audits -- ALL voting machines must be auditable
* No Secret Source Code -- ALL voting machine vendors MUST make the machines’ software available for inspection
* Ban on Wireless Devices -- Prohibits wireless technology in voting machines
* Access for All Eligible Voters -- Ensures disabled and minority language voters can vote privately and independently