Written by Marguerite Day
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
After voters cast their ballots, they think they've voted for the candidates of their choice; they take their "I voted" stickers and await the outcome.
But not all votes get counted. In a 2006 election in Sarasota, Florida, the votes of more than 18,000 people who went to the polls never made it into the final tallies.
In a close race for U.S. Representative of the 13th District between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan - Buchanan won by 369 votes - Sarasota County reported that almost 13 percent of voters, or more than 18,000 people, didn't vote for a candidate, according to an article in the Herald Tribune. The article says that some people claim the large undervote was the fault of poorly designed touch-screen ballots, but others claim people simply didn't vote. Either way, if Jennings would have received 53 percent of the missing votes, she would have won the election.
Questionable results such as those in Sarasota have been a major concern since the 2000 presidential election, and the situation shows that despite many efforts to improve election accuracy and credibility, the issue still hasn't been resolved.
States have been changing their voting systems to find the most accurate way to record votes. Iowa passed a law in March that requires every precinct to use paper ballots, optical-scan machines, and a new touch-screen technology for people with disabilities.
The law creates a standardized voting system in Iowa that offers the security of a paper trail. In case of a recount, election officials will be able to look at the paper record and re-create the election. Paper trails provide more voting integrity because people, especially those with disabilities, can be confident that their votes will be counted, said Richard Eauer, election supervisor in Scott County.
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