An Important Election Safeguard [NewYork Times editorial for paper trails!

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. <SNIP>


More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/opinion/10fri3.html

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Finally, the mainstream media is starting to notice...
And the New York Times is a trend-setter.

Remember how many editors rebuffed anyone's suggestions to do some reporting on this issue?
Wonder what turned the tide -- the fact that Bush hasn't been above a 50 percent approval rating in months, but "won" another election might have been a hint.

PLEASE call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and urge your representative to pass H.R. 550.


(Vitruvius, I accidentally duped your thread after only doing a search for H.R. 550. Sorry.)

PAPER BALLOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The electronic records can still be cooked. What good is a paper receipt if it's just going to be ignored?

PAPER BALLOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!