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I absolutely agree. I have been a programmer for 25 years and I gurantee that any test they do are not sufficient. I can turn code on and off at will. Do a test and it works but on election day well that is a different thing. If the machine malfunctions all votes are lost. That could be 500 votes. If in key prestincts that could eaisly effect the election. No paper trail means no verification and is inexcuseable unless fraud is the agenda.

Papper is one of the cheepest things in America. Put a piece of plastic so a person can actually see their votes. Number them as necessary 50 of five lines collumns should cover it. However if not a second etc. set could be used. One would need help to verify other than party line votes but could still do so. Thus no chance of fraud as recountability is easy. This I would support. A poll watcher could ask a friend to confirm every so ofter that their votes were tallied correctly. This would gurantee no tricks. The paper could go from one roll to another or one box to another. OCR cound read the marks in case of a recount.

The counts should also be posted at each prestinct as well. That way people could add them all up and make sure the final tally agrees.

You hit close to one of the algorithms.

The counting machines are tested before every election by a board of citizens. They run a fixed number of pre-punched ballots through the machine, usually between 1,000 and 5,000 or so. They compare the computer count with the known result. Never a problem.

The algorithms do not kick in until 10,000+ ballots are counted.

Then the count between D or R for the top spots are counted. If the Dems are in the lead then no changes are made. But if the Reps are in the lead, after a certain percentage of the total has been counted, then votes begin to be flipped.

It will never flip more than 2-4%, (unless externally directed) and it will spread the flip over many precincts.

This prevents red flags on the part of the public that have absolutely no clue anyway how many votes are cast for any person in any precinct.

2-4% swing is the difference between a 46% to 54% loss to a 54% to 46% loss.

How many elections have such close margins?

How many elections when you KNOW the Republican must have 60%+ support he only wins by 51% to 49%.

The counting machines in St. Louis (Gephardts district) were accessible by modem from the outside during the counting process. We complained but nothing was done. We also witnessed Gephardt campaign staff inside the counting room.

In one county, the computers "went down" and the votes were counted by hand. This was after preliminary counting had been performed by the machine. (We were warned this could happen, it had happened before in close elections). Gephardt won. The county officials were Democrat.

FWIW: IMHO: The best solution is that each precinct count their own votes immediately, and then send that result to the county. But each precinct certifies their own vote. It is not certified or corrected at a higher level.

Each precinct should print the actual vote summary on a large tally and each row of votes will be identified by a code that corresponds to the serial number of the ballot you are randomly issued when you enter (or it is assigned as you complete the vote ). You get a receipt with your personal votes, and then you are able to look at the final results posted in the newspaper and physically at the precinct, with the actual results.

Only a few percent of the voters need check to ensure an honest vote.