[PAR35]

If the Repulican is leading, just install a new computer chip to ensure a democrat victory.

[Texas_Jarhead]

lol

[AK2KX]

Reverse the situation and you would hear howls of protest from the Dims.

[barkeep]

Been harping on this for a while, but here is another example why I love optical scan ballots. If there is some screw-up, the paper is still there to be re-examined, no chads, hanging or otherwise. What if something similar occurs in a computerized voting system? Do we try to recount electrons? The problems they had in Dallas, others in Fla. surely we can learn from them and fall back on an old engineering principle; KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid!

[Steel and Fire and Stone]

The problem was discovered when poll workers became suspicious of the margins of the vote, Scurry County Clerk Joan Bunch said.

Translation: "My GOD! The Republicans are WINNING! Get me the Gore Chip!!"

Also, there was that classic response by the Registar of Votes about midnight election night: "WAIT! Don't install it yet, you nitwit. Wait until the final count is in from all the other counties so we can properly ...ah..er. 'calibrate' the new chip."

A least if they said the chip source was from the Chad Corporation in Florida, then we'd all understand. Poor journalism, I'd say.

[Tatze]

At least in this case, they have actual paper ballots to do a hand count. And the hand count in this case also corrected the record.

In GA, and any other places using these Diebold election machines, there is no paper ballot. EVERYTHING is electronic. And there were more than a few (hundreds) of people who reported touching the Republican candidate and having the checkmark show up next to the Democrat. How many others didnt notice the switch and have their vote stolen??

Regardless of the system used, there should ALWAYS be a paper ballot for just these reasons. A hand count will sometimes be necessary.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yeah _ I just reallllllly trust them there democratic vote-counters..... er. Programmers.

Yeah - That's right. Those honest, forthright, loyal, true, and brave (oopsie - wrong organization - THe demo's really hate the Boy Scouts) trustworthy programmers down in Atlanta. And Austin.

With all them there honest democratic criminals in charge. ... ER. Bosses. Honest GA political bosses.

[dark_lord]

Electronic voting systems should simply print out two hardcopies - a "receipt" for the voter, with a unique identifier; and one to be stored by the elections judges. The voter could check the printout - yep, has everyone they voted for. They can keep it. Meanwhile, the other paper copy can be kept in case the electronics have a glitch. The electronic votes should always be cross checked against the paper votes later if the election is close.

This way (a) no one can claim that the machines voted for the wrong candidate - your printout will show who you voted for, and (b) if the machines are rigged, then the recount against the paper hardcopies stored by the election judges will show the discrepency (exactly like happened in this story above.) Nothing complicated here - just a standard LAN printer hooked up to the voting machines.