Contact Center Solutions Industry News

[October 29, 2006]

EDITORIAL: Voting machines need safeguards

(Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (IA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oct. 29--The upcoming mid-term elections Nov. 7 are featuring new electronic voting machines across the nation. The new touch-screen voting machines are required under the provisions of the Help America Vote Act, which was designed to prevent a recurrence of the 2000 presidential election controversy.

But the machines come with issues. Critics say the devices may be prone to switching votes among candidatess, not registering votes or registering two or more votes.

According to Philadelphia Inquirer political columnist Dick Polman, those problems have been found in at least nine reports "from places such as Princeton and Stanford, all authored by reputable computer-security experts with esteemed university pedigrees."

Other investigations have indicated that if given online access, hackers could get into the system and change results.

The Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, concluded a year ago that "problems with the security and reliability of electronic voting systems" are "potentially affecting the reliability of future elections, and voter confidence in the accuracy of the vote count."

The lack of a paper trail with some touch-screen systems precludes a way to verify that votes were registered correctly.

The confidence the voters have in the system is second in importance only to the accuracy. Many Americans -- recalling Florida's "dangling chad" fiasco -- now are wary of faulty computer chips. If more problems surface Nov. 7 without a reliable way to verify all votes, another political brouhaha about allegedly stolen elections is sure to ensue.

Back in 2003, Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., filed a bill that would have required a paper trail backup.

"Ever had a laptop computer problem? You just show common sense and back everything up," Holt said.

But the bill still languishes.

In Black Hawk County, the new machines were rolled out for the primary elections last spring. Then and now, voters have a choice on using the new touch-screen electronic machines or the traditional optically scanned paper ballots.

Black Hawk is one of only two Iowa counties using touch screen machines equipped with a paper trail to verify votes cast.

The county's election department should be applauded for implementing this safeguard, because it's obvious that the bugs need to be worked out.

One problem that still exists is that the dual tabulation system created confusion about precinct reporting totals at any given time. The results took longer than in previous elections.

"We knew from the start that it was going to take longer," said Kyle Jensson, the county elections manager. "We aren't able to compete with what we've done in the past."

County Auditor Grant Veeder said the confusion stems from implementing the changes in too short a time frame.

The bottom line is that all jurisdictions should have a paper trail to improve confidence that votes will be tallied accurately and that the results will reflect the will of the electorate.

Otherwise, voting reform will have taken us from a bad situation with archaic machines to one that has the potential to be far worse without sufficient safeguards.

Copyright (c) 2006, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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