Everybody remember to go out and vote. And, just to be a downer:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/evoting.ars
This is not advice, this is a reminder why it’s important to ask for accountability in government. For example, here’s something you don’t see with paper ballots:
http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,1247,00.html#24_880
I’m sure reports of failed electronic machines will be widespread, but that overall most government officials will claim that everything went swimmingly well. Should be interesting.
What do you propose, Mike? Here in Minnesota, we’re one of just five states that still rely exclusively on paper ballots. Those ballots, however, are read and tabulated by — GASP! — machines! Those machines are susceptible to breaking down, or having their software tampered with. Of course, the alternative is a manual, human count of paper ballots. The problems there are too many to enumerate, from bias to human error to inconsistencies in how ambiguous ballots are counted (remember the hanging chad debacle?).
There’s an old saying that applies here — “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” Machines may not be perfect, but they’re better than any of the available alternatives.
I don’t have time to give you a full response right now, but this is NOT a case of the perfect being the enemy of the good, I can assure you. Optical scan of paper ballots is a lot better than full electronic with no audit trail, because if a machine fails or is hacked, there is a backup record which can be re-run through another scanner or counted by hand. If a fully-electronic system fails or is hacked, then what?
Oh, and don’t try to play the Luddite card with me, either, you know full well that I’m not an anti-technology guy. I’m not opposed to the use of machines, I’m opposed to the use of machines which are demonstrably insecure with no corresponding alternate record which is verifiable by the voter. Do you see the difference?
Wake up on the wrong side of the bed today, Mike? I’m not trying to play a “Luddite” or any other kind of card. I was simply asking what you proposed. Are you against electronic voting machines in general, or specific machines, and why? What would be an acceptable system? It’s your blog, after all. If you don’t have time, that’s up to you.