Posted on 06/10/2005 6:02:49 PM PDT by NCjim
There are many problems with American elections, but none more serious than the rise of paperless electronic voting, whose results cannot be trusted. Grass-roots reformers are in the middle of a two-day lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill in support of a House bill that would require that electronic voting machines in federal elections produce voter-verifiable paper records. It is an important measure that should be passed without delay.
Electronic voting has been rolled out nationwide without necessary safeguards. The machines' computers can be programmed to steal votes from one candidate and give them to another. There are also many ways hackers can break in to tamper with the count. Polls show that many Americans do not trust electronic voting in its current form; such doubts are a serious problem in a democracy.
The solution is to require that each machine produce a paper record that can be inspected and verified by the voter. The paper records are then stored, and can be counted after the polls close. If the results on the machine do not match the tally of the paper records, it will be clear that there is a problem.
The states have taken the lead on electronic voting reform. Nineteen states have paper-trail requirements, including major states like California and Ohio. But a federal law is still badly needed. Any state can cast the deciding electoral votes in a presidential election. Voters across the country are entitled to know that the president was elected on machines that can be trusted.
The House resolution, sponsored by Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat, would require not only paper trails, but also random audits of the machines' vote counts, and it would ban the use of undisclosed software.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
But wouldn't this rob Democrats of an important election-winning tool?
Well, I guess there are always the absentee ballots to cheat on.
my biggest interest is in assuring that voters are citizens of the USA:
Starting in 2006, I want each potential voter to have to RE-REGISTER at their local town hall, and show proper identification (picture ID, not your grandma's telephone bill). I want to see something with a valid Social Security number on it, too. It doesn't have to be recorded, but it has to be produced.
I want to ABSOLUTELY FORBID that crazy idea that local political workers can register you in front of the supermarket or in your home or at a rock concert. Who is the idiot that started THAT travesty?
I want absentee ballots requested no later than one month in advance and NO delays in sending them out by partisian town workers. I want NO excuses for not voting in your own precinct. Tough luck if you can't get to your own precinct.
Felons? Forget it! Prisoners? Forget it! Dead people? Something stinks! Intimidation tactics? Give the cops more billy clubs! ...what did I forget?
Like Philadelphia? Democratic governor saying: "Pay no attention to the man behind the machine!"
Maybe punch ballots are the answer.
Here in Maine over ten years ago, blank paper ballots were used to steal elections. Term limits were enacted to get rid of the elected official(a democrat) with the corrupt organization, and now the joker is a state senator.
All election systems are threatened by corrupt officials.
Geez! Even here in WA, where we had paper ballots, the system was corrupted.
I agree with this step, but Voter ID is much more important.
They've been drinking the Koolaide from the kook left-wing conspiracy sites. But that's okay -- in this country, diversity is our strength!
We should trade what they want (paper receipts) for what we want -- voter ID.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.