Does the use of electronic voting machines improve the voting process?

Question

The United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) includes the following entry on its website (accessed 2/22/06):

"The most recent configuration in the evolution of voting systems are known as direct recording electronic, or DRE's. They are an electronic implementation of the old mechanical lever systems. As with the lever machines, there is no ballot; the possible choices are visible to the voter on the front of the machine. The voter directly enters choices into electronic storage with the use of a touch-screen, push-buttons, or similar device. An alphabetic keyboard is often provided with the entry device to allow for the possibility of write-in votes. The voter's choices are stored in these machines via a memory cartridge, diskette or smart-card and added to the choices of all other voters."

Answer 1

Yes, it makes it easier for the Republicans to manipulate
the election in their favor.
They should have some kind of control on them, you know,
how Mike Fitzpatrick is trying to make a law to censor the
Internet in Pa.
Like we need Another law, my girlfriend child proofed her own
personal computer without a law - amazing, isn't it?!

Answer 2

I don't think so.

I remember reading that diebold systems had been successfully hacked. If they can be hacked you can bet that someone would do it for political benefit.

The specs and code for such machines should be in the public domain so that the designs could be improved under the pressure of many technical people's scrutiny. If you got the open-source and hacker crowds into reviewing the design and code running these machines you would find all the weak points very quickly.

Without that open review and process the next best thing to have would be a paper audit trail that could be recounted if vote counts were contested. Unfortunately the designs I've seen didn't have that either. So we have to take the results of these machines on faith. The problem is that we're talking about politics... so I don't.

Answer 3

NO...There too foulable, the company's that produce them, Dieabold and I don't recall the name of the other, are BIG contributors to the GOP and Bush, there is overwhelming evidence on those company's parts, that they fixed the machines to throw votes to the Bush side!!!

Answer 4

No, because it is just as imperfect as the programer is. All people and all their creations are imperfect. Either way, we're going to find a glich or there'll be someone else dishonest enough to make up votes somewhere, somewhere.

Answer 5

It sure did for the cheating Republicans in Florida and Ohio and Pennsylvania....And using the over seas Military personnel that weren't Republicans...

Answer 6

I don't care if the ballot is cast with a computer, a scantron, or a push card. I just want it to be as accurate as possible.

Answer 7

i think the human get rid of ought to be removed from the vote counting technique. human beings have agendas, they cheat, lie, and scouse borrow, in short they devote fraud. computers do no longer try this. computers have no emotion, no time table, no political association. they could be hacked i think yet there are few human beings interior the international who ought to try this. it could be plenty harder to do than stuffing ballots or "dropping" ballots.

Answer 8

No, since the democrats blame their ineptness to prove that "computers supress democrat voters."