Concerns Over Vulnerability Of Electronic Machines Sending Many States Back To Paper Ballots

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/16/eveningnews/main4355733.shtml

Voting Machine Doubts Linger
Concerns Over Vulnerability Of Electronic Machines Sending Many States Back To Paper Ballots


Aug. 16, 2008

Do Touch Screen Ballots Work?

As the U.S. prepares for the upcoming presidential election, many states are abandoning the electronic touch screen ballots that have caused significant problems in the past. Tony Guida reports.


(CBS) (The following story was written by CBS Evening News producer Phil Hirschkorn.)

Four of of ten American voters will be casting ballots this November on equipment that's different from what they used in 2004.

One reason is the doubts raised about ATM-syle electronic touch-screen machines, which have prompted half a dozen states to turn them off and turn back to paper ballots.

In fact, at least 55 percent of Americans voting this November will vote on paper ballots that will be counted by optical scanners, according to Virginia-based Election Data Services, Inc.

"That's an all-time high for optical scan usage in this nation," says EDS President Kimball Brace.

Only one-third of voters will be using touch-screen systems, according to EDS.

"Electronic system usage will go down in 2008 for the first time since we started collecting data in 1980," Brace says.

In the key presidential battleground of Ohio, the switch away from touch-screens came after Secretary of State Jennifer Bruner took office last year and commissioned a top-to-bottom review of the Diebold machines used in 53 of Ohio's 88 counties.