by Bruce O'Dell
SNIP...Many of my colleagues (perhaps more so, for those gaining financially by their involvement with electronic voting industry) seem to utterly miss the essential point. Computerized voting systems are actually national defense systems deserving a much higher standard of protection than conventional applications, such as mere banking software. Undetected widespread covert manipulation of computerized voting systems is the functional equivalent of invasion and occupation by a foreign power. In either case, the American people lose control of their destinies, perhaps permanently. Covert manipulation of voting systems could even be worse in one key way than mere invasion, since the "electoral coup" would appear to occur with the illusion of the manufactured consent of the governed, and there would be no "tanks in the street" to galvanize resistance.
SNIP...As socially-responsible professionals we must openly acknowledge the inherent limitations of our ability to ensure voting is as trustworthy as a critical national security system should be. We cannot and should not ask the public to simply trust the outcome of any testing and certification process, no matter how many "experts" say so.
SNIP...In fact, there is a fascinating study from 2001 (interestingly enough, published shortly before HAVA was enacted) which concluded that not only were hand-counted paper ballots the most accurate of all vote counting methods, measuring by residual vote rate, but that every single technological "innovation" of the last century - lever machines, punch cards, optical scan, DRE - actually measurably decreased the accuracy of the voting process. Their conclusion:
These results are a stark warning of how difficult it is to implement new voting technologies. People worked hard to develop these new technologies. Election officials carefully evaluated the systems, with increasing attentiveness over the last decade. The result: our best efforts applying computer technology have decreased the accuracy of elections, to the point where the true outcomes of many races are unknowable.
It will come as no surprise that some of my colleagues still question whether multiple citizens (each with competing political allegiances, and drawing upon the processing power of the one thousand trillion synapses in the massively-parallel neurocomputer we call a human brain) are collectively better able to interpret voter intent as marked on paper, as opposed to a "dumb" optical scanner. Of course, the people also have to count way up to 500 or so several times. Clearly, a job that calls for a machine.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_bruce_o__070221_holt_s_hr_811_a_dece.htmHe gives in a little in the last couple paragraphs , but a Great article nonetheless.