I'm still getting Orwellian headaches over these machines. How easy it would be to rob the citizens of their vote and they won't even know they've been robbed.
It's easier to rig the pull-down lever machines that they use in NY and other places before you could ever "rob citizens of their votes" using the Diebold machines.
The former PR head that is in charge of this voting machine hullaballoo (who also was the PR rep for Burkett in 2000), is blowing smoke up our collective butts.
From what I understand, there are redundancies built into the system. For those of you unfamiliar with the system, this is how it works:
1) You go to the polls and do whatever ministerial acts that are required to sign in to vote. For example, in Georgia, you fill out an affidavit that you live where you claim you do, and show the poll sitter your identification.
2) the poll sitter gives you a SIM card, which looks like one of those DirectTV cards that they use to record what channels you can watch and what pay-per-view movies that you paid for.
3) you put the voting card into the machine and it loads the ballot. You vote by touching the screen for the candidate you want to vote for.
4) When you finish, the machine lets you review your ballot to ensure that you didn't vote wrong.
5) When you tell the machine that the ballot is okay, you get the card back. Presumably, the machine records your vote to the machine itself AND the card.
6) You give the card to a poll sitter on the way out.
As a result, there are MULTIPLE places where your vote is recorded, on the DIEBOLD machines and on the cards themselves. From my understanding, the vote can be recreated by rereading the cards.
In contrast, if you vote on an old lever machine, your vote just moves the odometer-like device and adds a vote to each. There is no paper trail. If there's an irregularity, your vote evaporates.
Please correct me if I am wrong.