Md. Machines Seek Vote of Confidence
Group Demands Paper Trail on Ballots
By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 25, 2004; Page B01
When critics of electronic voting machines warn of Maryland becoming another Florida, with the potential for hundreds if not thousands of lost votes this fall, State Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone shudders.
Maryland, Lamone said, has already had "its own Florida": the 1994 gubernatorial election, which was mired in recounts almost until inauguration day. The state's move toward electronic voting was meant to modernize its patchwork election machinery and prevent such episodes from recurring.
But today, Lamone finds the touch-screen system she has championed under attack as an Anne Arundel County judge begins a three-day hearing to determine, among other things, whether elections officials should be forced to provide a paper trail that can verify the results.
Plaintiffs, led by Linda Schade, a Takoma Park activist who helped found a group called TrueVoteMD.org, promise to produce testimony from computer experts and election officials about security vulnerabilities and other shortcomings in machines the state has paid more than $55 million to purchase....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30136-2004Aug24.html
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