How so many happened to cast nonvotes remains a riddle. Unlike with punch cards or paper ballots, there's no paper record with electronic voting that might offer a clue to the voter's intent.And that is why November 2004 is going to be the biggest election mess imaginable.
It is beyond me why these machines were not designed to print a receipt showing how the voter voted. A receipt for them and a copy to be kept inside the machine.
November is gonna be a mess!!
The receipt for the vote should not indicate the names or parties of the candidate(s) voted for, though it could, for example, say the voter did cast a vote for races a, b, & c, but not d. Otherwise, people could be pressured (Boss: "Bring me your voting receipt before I determine your bonus") or paid off (dim to bum being loaded on bus to polling place: "Bring me your receipt showing you voted for the dims before I give you your pack of cigarettes") for their votes.
The reason why we don't get receipts for secret ballots to show how we voted is because that would invite voter fraud: selling of votes. Back in the days of paper ballots the first paid voter could slip out of the polling place with his blank ballot uncast. The precinct boss would then fill out the ballot and have the second voter take it in and cast it and bring out his blank ballot, etc.
It's perfectly clear to me -- they were designed to the specifications of Florida election officials.