The ballot box shell game

[cal04]

THIS MONTH'S "Foreign Policy" magazine ranks the United States first in the world as a technological powerhouse, yet six years after the infamous botched election of 2000, vote counters in Florida and elsewhere still can't seem to get it right.

This is a disgrace, a stain on democracy that the new Congress should attack aggressively, with an eye toward mandating the most secure and reliable systems for national elections. Ironically, the technological wizards have not yet come up with a machine that merits unreserved confidence. Some districts are understandably content to stick with paper ballots -- cumbersome, but easy to count and to recount -- while the computer models are perfected.

The 13th Congressional District in Florida, in Sarasota County, is this year's advertisement for reform. All last week, officials were attempting to recount votes in a race that the Republican apparently won by fewer than 400 votes. But the county workers can only review what the machines recorded, and they failed to record about 15,000 votes. Since Sarasota uses a state-certified machine that leaves no paper record, there is no way to recapture those votes.

One complaint lodged by a number of voters, according to Florida election spokesman Sterling Ivey, is that efforts to vote for a congressional candidate seemed to be recorded initially, but then disappeared from the screen when the voter was asked to confirm the whole ballot. Unless the voter went back and made sure, no vote was recorded for Congress. Ivey said such reports would be investigated in a state audit. It should be a thorough probe, seeking evidence either of a technical malfunction that could be prevented in future, or of something more sinister. If the votes not counted were mostly for one candidate, this would raise the specter of the ultimate electoral nightmare: a programmer subtly tilting the scale for partisan advantage.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/11/19/the_ballot_box_shell_game/

[driver8]

1. The US wants to bring democracy to the world, yet can't get it right at home.

It is absolutely disgraceful that in the United States, we just can't seem to get a handle on casting votes and counting them,

If it's that freakin' difficult, give us paper ballots and a pencil...we'll take if from there.

[bullimiami]

2. the current us govt uses 'democracy' as a weapon to promise and then to steal

peoples freedom.

it is purely bait and switch using participation as cover to obscure the intent to control.

they neither believe in or practice 'democracy'.

[Kip Humphrey]

3. "give us paper ballots and a pencil..." Where's the timber & paper lobbies when you need them?!!!