What’s Wrong With My Voting Machine? by Adam Cohen at NY Times

[applegrove]

What’s Wrong With My Voting Machine?
By ADAM COHEN
NY TIMES
Published: December 4, 2006

"To the long list of recent Election Day horrors from butterfly ballots to six-hour lines, add “vote flipping.”

In Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey and other states last month, there were reports — some confirmed by election officials — that when voters touched the screen for one candidate, the machine registered it for another. One Florida Congressional race, in which the Republican won by fewer than 400 votes, is in the courts because paperless electronic voting machines may have failed to register as many as 18,000 votes.

This year’s election had voters across the country once again asking why voting machines are so lousy. Their technology is similar to A.T.M. technology, but when was the last time your A.T.M. flipped a $200 withdrawal into a $200 deposit?

Voting machines, unlike home electronics, are not sold in a competitive consumer market, which is ruthlessly unforgiving of low quality. The officials who buy them generally do not know much about technology. They listen to sales pitches from vendors who relentlessly push the most expensive models. Sometimes, well-connected lobbyists apply pressure. The process is rife with conflicts of interest, from free meals to future jobs with the manufacturers.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/opinion/04mon4.html?th&emc=th