Activists sue to block electronic voting

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060713/ap_on_el_pr/electronic_voting

Computerized voting was supposed to be the cure for ballot fiascos such as the 2000 presidential election, but activist groups say it has only worsened the problem and they've gone to court across the country to ban the new machines.

Lawsuits have been filed in at least nine states, alleging that the machines are wide open to computer hackers and prone to temperamental fits of technology that have assigned votes to the wrong candidate.

Manufacturers say their machines are more reliable than punch cards and other traditional voting technologies.

But they face a determined opponent in Voter Action, which has filed lawsuits in Colorado, California, Arizona and New Mexico. Similar bans have been sought by voters in Texas, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. On Thursday, a coalition of groups filed a lawsuit in Georgia.

"The designers of video games have built far more sophisticated security into their systems than have the manufacturers of voting machines," said Lowell Finley, co-director of Voter Action, a nonprofit and nonpartisan group based in Berkeley, Calif. "The biggest problem is security against tampering."

[msongs]

1. biggest problem is you CANNOT prove and recount the votes -

there is no way to prove the vote you entered is the vote that is stored/and or counted for tally results. NO WAY to prove it.

no record of your vote available for recounting. a crappy receipt given to YOU does NO good. There MUST be a paper copy in the hands of the vote counters at the precinct level.

anything else is BS

Msongs
www.msongs.com/6for2008.htm

[mom cat]

2. Paper is the answer.

[MGKrebs]

3. '"more accurate" than punch cards'

HAHAHAHA!!! That is too funny. Jeez.

"Diebold spokesman David Bear said his company's technology "has proven to be more accurate" than punch cards"


"He also dismissed recent studies that showed computerized systems were vulnerable to hackers, saying "those are what-if scenarios."

This guy should be a comedian!

[ngant17]

4. human counts vrs. computers

According to my calculations, if 100 people were used to count 1 million votes, and 1 minute was alloted for each person to count 1 paper ballot (vote), then the job would be finished in less than 3 hours. So why would you need a computer to do this? Use the K.I.S.S. philosophy (Keep It Simple, Stupid) when counting votes. You don't need a computer period. Computers are good for complex calculations and statistical analysis, but for simple counting, you can get by with just an abacus or hand counts.

[mother earth]

5. It's about time!!!! I love the part about video games having more

sophisticated security...lovely & very appropriate comparison...it's very telling.