This is Bullshit (Score 1)

Electronic voting machines will never be foolproof, nor will paper-based ballots. We should make reasonable and prudent efforts to protect BOTH methods from manipulation or accidental errors. I've never understood why the machines cannot be made to print out the voters selections in the booth for review before the voter presses the submit button. If the paper receipt matches his selections, only then will the voter submit his votes. Next, he deposits the paper result in a box to be used to verify the accuracy of the electronic results. The vote records are still anonymous. The methods and procedures to check the paper versus electronic result can vary from full-on record by record checking for verification before making an election official, to simple statistical sampling of small numbers of paper ballots to electronic vote results. These can also vary by geographical regions, with statistical methods applied to ward, county, state, or national elections to trap for inconsistancy. Worst case scenario is that results are not official in any shorter period of time than before, but this type of checking would only be necessary if there were problems. This combines both methods to actually IMPROVE the accuracy of voting because it uses 2 separate procedures to verify results. To assume that electronic voting somehow has to be hacker-proof is ridiculous. Hell, I could simply walk in and steal paper ballots from the precincts I voted in; the people designing the paper ballot can alter the layout to favor one candidate over the other; ballot counters can simply declare a paper ballot invalid - the list is practically endless. Having said all of this, the voting machine companies do need to produce good-quality and RELIABLE hardware and software that doesn't break and at least counts votes accurately. I cannot understand why that is so difficult. I was in the point of sale industry for years, and all of the same basic equipment was used, and it was not that hard to write software that would add correctly.