Reply #28: You don't need machines. [View All]

[Zan_of_Texas]

You all have been sold expensive, flashy machinery to do something that these machines do very poorly.

The best way to count votes is in precincts of around a thousand or so. By hand. In the precincts. Nobody leaves until everybody agrees to the result.

With TECHNOLOGY of video cameras taping the entire day of voting, and the few hours it takes to count. And, taping the locked ballot boxes all day too.

Canada votes with simple paper ballots -- they're done counting in a few hours, even in big places like Ottawa. Lots of places in Europe do it.

Paper is better for some things. It's cheap. You can't change it easily, like you can change electrons...without a trace.

I'll guarantee you probably have a paper dollar bill somewhere near you -- you use paper every day. It's not hopelessly old-fashioned. It's matching appropriate technology for its intended use.

The nation's computer experts, over 2000, at least endorse a paper record if a district insists on using DREs.

The results speak for themselves. Canada has national health care. Lower drug costs. Gay marriage. A lower murder rate. And, they don't spend all the taxpayers' money on being the world's most violent bully.

For those who will throw a hissy fit if they don't have some machine involved, optical scan is probably the best bet. But, the votes are counted WITH SOFTWARE that is programmed by vendors who we don't know and don't check their work. Then, it is sent on its way electronically and tabulated with SOFTWARE we didn't check.

Any serious reform has to deal with this stuff, or not bother.