The below came to me today via email from MoveOn.Org and I am in total agreement with this. I want a paper ballot damnit. I demand a paper ballot and you should too. I don't want electronic voting machines manufactured by companies with their own political agendas 'recording' and likely tampering with MY VOTE!! There are far too many problems with "black box" voting that can not be prevented. Please read the below and take action to make sure your vote is recorded on paper and counted correctly come November!
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Dear MoveOn member,
We all remember the election of 2000. Because of faulty and mismanaged election systems look at the mess we're in.
People demanded improvements, and now states are spending millions to buy new voting machines. So far, so good. But many key states, including Florida, Ohio and other battlegrounds, are installing "black box" voting machines -- computer voting terminals that don't produce a paper ballot.
Without a paper ballot, there's no way to know if our votes are counted correctly. Also, computers are vulnerable to malfunction -- how often does yours freeze up?
It's time to take action to protect our votes. Join our call for Voter-Verified Paper Ballots, at:
http://www.moveon.org/protectourvotes/
If ATMs and gas pumps can print receipts, then voting terminals can print paper ballots. Every voter should be able to make sure that his or her vote will count as it was cast, by verifying a paper ballot that can be audited and re-counted. And wherever electronic voting terminals are used, backup paper ballots should also be available, so no voters will be turned away from the polling place if the terminals aren't working.
Over the past few weeks, MoveOn members have been calling legislators and officials in many states to demand Voter-Verified Paper Ballots. And along with other citizen's groups, large and small, we have won important victories.
A month ago, our side won its biggest victory yet. California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley decertified 14,000 black box voting terminals made by Diebold Inc., and said that this November, every California voter will be able to vote on a paper ballot.
Every voter in every state should have the same right -- to verify that his or her vote was recorded correctly, with full confidence that it will be counted correctly. We shouldn't have to hand our elections over to manufacturers like Diebold and blindly trust them with the results.
This is not about partisan politics. It's about the foundation of our democracy: our votes. There's no reason Americans should have anything less than the most accessible, secure and reliable voting system possible.
Join our campaign by clicking this link:
http://www.moveon.org/protectourvotes/
Thank you, for everything you do.
Sincerely,
--Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org Team
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004
P.S.: See our website for helpful background information on this issue.
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Wow, I agree with MoveOn for a change! Our current data infrastructure is really quite vulnerable. If we can't keep simple worms written by frustrated teenagers off of our networks, how will we cope with sophisticated intrusions by highly talented and motivated adults-or organizations? Paper ballots and rigorously enforced ID checks are the order of the day, not some flimsy new system.
Posted by: Jeff on June 3, 2004 09:40 AMHi Will, I agree paper it should be! Have a good one!
Posted by: Joe on June 3, 2004 10:22 AM“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
-Hanlon's Razor
Your average systems or applications developer knows jack-all about real security. On the other side of the coin, your average tech company considers paper "obsolete." It's where these elements of a lack of audit trail and lack of true data security converge at the point of an election that The Perfect Storm arises.
Is the vendor/developer shortsighted and naive? Definitely. Are they in collusion with The Cabal and are deliberately plotting to manipulate results? Probably not. Are there unscrupulous powers that are willing to take advantage of the vendor's shortfalls to manipulate the system? Probably so.
Yes, the Diebold systems are first-generation, immature products that haven't been field-vetted. They're typical 1G product that hasn't had the kinks worked out. Combine with the general incompetence of government, and you have quite a stew. But is Diebold or any other vendor selling electronic voting equipment involved in a vast conspiracy to manipulate the polls? Unlikely.
That being said, I agree with the general principle of the objection - that there is no audit trail other than that stored digitally within the system. I would be more at ease were a printed reciept issued for the voter to initial and place in a ballot box, as a backup for when (not if) the system shits itself.
Paper ballots are not sacrosanct, either. Hell, look at Chicago politics for the last 100+ years. Tell me it's not just as easy to manipulate an election.
To hell with the paper, I am voting via stone tablets.
Posted by: Dave on June 3, 2004 02:12 PM