February 02, 2007

"Why Voting Needs a Paper Trail"

"In an effort to break the distrust that still lingers in Florida seven years after the 2000 Presidential race, the state's newest Republican governor is doing something unheard of: He's teaming up with Democrats to pull the plug on the high-tech machines touted as the answer to election embarrassment and pushed by his technology loving predecessor, Jeb Bush.

After the 2000 Presidential election debacle, Florida officials responded to "hanging chads" and "butterfly ballots" by pumping millions into techno-savvy electronic voting machines. They justified the cost by saying those video arcade-like devices would forever end the controversy caused by stone age systems that included punch cards and paper ballots. They didn't.

Instead, a string of opponents from conspiracy theorists to computer analysts and civil libertarians said officials pushed the reforms too radically and blasted touch-screens for their lack of the human element. Human error was largely to blame for the 2000 fiasco ultimately resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, but a fully electronic system would have limited ability to retabulate votes in a close contest.

On Thursday, newly elected Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida unveiled a $32.5 million plan to replace touch screens with optical scanners capable of churning out a paper trail. Those video machines that remained for early ballots of voters with special needs would be equipped with printers. "You go to an ATM machine, you get some kind of a record. You go to the gas station, you get a record." Crist said a day early as he briefed newspaper editors. "If there's a need for a recount, it's important to have something to count."

California led the way with VVPAT, imposing requirements over two years ago.

Posted by Randy Riddle at February 2, 2007 02:00 PM