Reply #10: N.C. must redouble efforts to iron out problems with electronic voting...

[Wilms]

Editorials

N.C. must redouble efforts to iron out problems with electronic voting process

published December 5, 2005

Larry Leake, chairman of the state Board of Elections, said, “Everyone needs to cross their fingers.’’

We sympathize with Leake and the thousands of dedicated citizens who make our polling places run. However, with the current electronic machines, it’s the voters who apparently have to cross their fingers.

Electronic voting systems failures identified by the Government Accountability Office in a report released in October included an incident in California where some races weren’t even listed, undervote percentages of 80 percent in a Pennsylvania race and long delays in activation of electronic machines in Florida. System vulnerabilities detailed in the GAO report include systems with “easily picked locks,’’ and “weak security practices, including the failure to conduct background checks on programmers and system developers, and the failure to establish clear chain of custody procedures for handling software.’’

There’s clearly work to be done. Voting is the most important duty a citizen of a democracy exercises. That vote has to be carried out with the confidence that it will count.

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http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051205/OPINION01/51202029/1006