[DJtex]

It wouldn't be that hard to add a dual printout (like cash registers have had for a century), one for the voter to hold onto, one that rolls up in the machine. I'm sure that it costs less money and requires less maintenance not to add a printer, but I'm surprised that no-one demanded it before all these agencies went out and blew their wads.

[expatpat]

Yeah, I've been surprised too that they didn't insist on a paaper trail before they bought. Bakseesh?

[ovrtaxt]

Plenty was said at the time by us regular folks out here. Nobody who means anything, mind you, just regular old AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO VOTE!!!

The politicians ignored us up until now. Floridians were calling talk radio and posting on the internet about this very issue ever since the 2000 election system was scrapped.

Unbeleivably, one of the critics of a paper trail record, (a bureaucrat, of course) actually said that one of the reasons they didn't want a paper trail was that in the event of a close or disputed election, THE RESULTS COULD ACTUALLY BE CHECKED.

IMHO, if everyone got a receipt of their vote, the voters would actually have more control over the process than even a punch card system. The punch cards are collected from the voter, tabulated, and then discarded after a while. With a receipt, the citizens of any particular precinct could run a check on the results to check the politicians. They could be kept indefinitely.

Surely they don't want that.