Should Electronic Voting Machines Have Paper Trails?

Question

Hi Everyone!

What if I were to tell you that the results of the next local, state, or even Presidential election could be controlled by a handfull of people with just a very basic understanding of computers?

In his new book, "Brave New Ballot", Dr. Aviel Rubin points out the blatant security flaws inherent in the new generation of electronic DRE voting machines.

According to Dr. Rubin:

"The electronic voting machines being used in 37 states are vulnerable to tampering, and because the manufaturers are not required to reveal -- even to the government -- how they operate, voters will never know if their votes are recorded accurately."

"All votes are recorded on a single removable card similar to the one in a digtal camera. There is no way to determine if the card or the code that operates the machine have been tampered with."

"It's very easy to change votes, There's no way to determine if that has happened."

Now is our chance to fight back! There is currently l

There is currently legislation pending before the U.S. Congress (H.R. 811 Voter Confidence and Increased Accessability Act of 2007)which would require a voter verifiable paper trail for auditing purposes on all electronic voting machines.

So if you value your right to fair and free elections, you might want to take a few minutes to contact your U.S. Representative (The easiest way is to go to www.house.gov/writerep/ )and urge that person to support this legislation.
Or for more information, please visit:
http://bravenewballot.org/



Thanks

Answer 1

The big question to ask is "what is the benefit of electronic voting machines?" Personally, I see virtually none. So what, we get the results a couple hours earlier than with mechanical tabulation. There are even more sources of possible human error, training issues, and abuse is much easier and potentially more subtle. I say throw them all in the garbage and go back to good old punchcards. Everybody knows how to use those, so long as we don't have folks monkeying with the ballot design like the Florida "butterfly ballot".

The most important thing about an election is transparency and verifiability. Any paper form wins over any electronic form, any day.

Answer 2

The new Rolling Stone article, Will The Next Election Be Hacked? by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in cludes an on the record claim by a former Diebold employee that they changed the software in the machines the night before Georgia's 2002 primary election. This, or other altered software could still be there for the November election. Of course, the point is, with these machines there is no way to prove that the reported vote counts reflect how the voters voted.

Answer 3

YES paper trails absolutely must be required to have appropriate transparency. People don't seem to realize that many if not all of the electronic voting machine suppliers are affiliated with the Bush administration by not too many degrees of separation. As long as conflict of interest is even a remote possiblity there must be a system of accountability that is available to all. Otherwise the election is merely an illusion of choice.

Answer 4

It's telling that a company like Diebold, who had paper trails built into ATMs when the technology was still primordial, like 20 years ago, mysteriously can't do it for their voting machines.

Somehow, I doubt that's accidental. Of course they should have an audit trail, and they also need to remove partisans from offices where they oversee elections.

Answer 5

Yes there should be a paper trail.
In Canada each ballot is marked with an X for the candidate you want to vote for. Each ballot is counted manually , and the results are ready across the country the same night .

Answer 6

In every state I believe they should be used with one exception Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush would still throw out the votes for the Democrats. Only way to fix Florida's problem is to use a chalk board or a hammer and chisel into stone.

Answer 7

It must be mandatory that every voter get a printed receipt, and every polling place should get a printout of the votes in such a way that the count can be verified. Otherwise the scenario you describe could become commonplace. If that were to happen, Cheney could win in a landslide in 2008'

Answer 8

There should always be a paper trail especially in something as important as an election.

Answer 9

If we have learned anything in the past couple of elections is that paper trails are essential to keep things honest.

Answer 10

Not really a concern after the democrat election in 2006, is it?