I don't trust electronic voting machines...

[Dalmatian90]

But critics led by Stanford University computer science professor David Dill say it's an outrage that the world's most powerful democracy doesn't already have an election system so transparent its citizens know it can be trusted.

"Suppose you had a situation where ballots were handed to a private company that counted them behind a closed door and burned the results," said Dill, founder of VerifiedVoting.org. "Nobody but an idiot would accept a system like that. We've got something that is almost as bad with electronic voting."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5762054/

And that opinion has <sarcasm> nothing </sarcasm> to do with the fact it's 8pm, and I'm still at the office fixing a system the vendor, former employees of the vendor, and a well respected & trusted consultant all said should have no problems once we hit ad number 1,000,000. With luck we'll be able to bill for those ads by tomorrow :D

[hwoods]

Some folks think that some of my views are a bit, well, ah, er, different. Here's one. We need, and should have, a constitutionally mandated voting system that is even and equal in ALL respects. Here are some parts of my "Ideal" system.
A. Primary Elections would all be on the same day.
B. General Elections would all be on the same day.
C. All polling places, Nationwide, would open and close at the same time. Time would be Adjusted by Time zones as well. IE: Open at 10Am EST, 9AM CST, 8AM MST, 7AM PST, and close in the same manner.
D. The News media would be barred from so called "Exit Interviews" and other discussions of how the voting is going, until after the polls close.
E. Balloting would be by a Paper Ballot that would be stored intact until such time that all legal appeals are satisfied. (Recounts, etc.)
F. Ballot results should be counted quickly, electronically, and reported as soon as possible. A system used in Maryland in recent years will meet this need. The Md. system has been based on the "Scantron" Card and reader system, and has produced error free tabulation as long as it's been in service. The Scantron Cards meet the "Paper Trail" need.

[ullrichk]

I don't particularly trust electronic voting machines - but then, I don't trust the politicians, either . . .

[stm4710]

When voteing machines were invented politicans dis liked them because they thought the results would be counted to fast.:rolleyes:

[Dalmatian90]

Indeed, we use mechanical voting machines a lot in New England, and they were probably a good compromise between reliability & speed (the machines are sealed so the counts registered on each "wheel" each time the lever is pulled can go back and be checked). I'd go with a scanned-card system now -- still have a ballot to check, but let the machines count them, and they can be tabulated periodically through the day so the results are known an hour or so after the polls closed.

A. Primary Elections would all be on the same day.
B. General Elections would all be on the same day.


Our local state rep just gave an "Alford Doctrine" plea -- doesn't admit guilt but admits the state has sufficient evidence to convict -- to sexual assault on a child. Anyway the strange affect of that is we'll vote in 2 State Represenatives in November -- One will take office the normal time in January, and the other will fill out Jefferson Davis' (Yes, that's his name, yes I'm in Connecticut) term from election day until the normal swearing in day in January.

Gotta love the electoral quirks sometimes.