LAT: Tallying the Woes of Electronic Balloting

[DeepModem Mom]

THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Tallying the Woes of Electronic Balloting

By Chris Gaither, Times Staff Writer


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — More than 45 million people in 29 states and the District of Columbia are set to vote using touch-screen machines Nov. 2. But the devices once hailed as the answer to the nation's voting woes are stirring up some serious cases of buyer's remorse here and across the country.

California officials have accused the companies that make electronic voting machines of delivering shoddy equipment and are suing to get their money back. Candidates in other states seeking to overturn questionable election results have turned to the courts as well. Election reform advocates rallied in 19 states this summer, demanding that the machines be retrofitted to produce paper ballots that could be tallied in the event of a recount.

Meanwhile, computer scientists from coast to coast have warned that the machines sometimes err in counting votes and could be easily compromised by amateur hackers intent on disrupting elections. In either case, they say, a manual recount would be meaningless if it was based on corrupted electronic data.

All of this has left officials like Palm Beach County Commissioner Addie Greene wishing they hadn't rushed to spend millions of dollars on the new touch-screen machines so soon....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-evoting24sep24,1,5875278.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[cthrumatrix]

1. if there is a failure for the democrats and for people.....it's e-voting

I know that wonderful people have been bustign their collective butts.

But, the democrats in congress/senate, for the most part, have been

disapointingly "quiet" and now we have a "mess".

[Eric J in MN]

3. Actually, a lot of House Democrats co-sponsored the

Voter Confidence Act.

Unfortunately, few Senate Democrats co-sponsored.

[truthisfreedom]

2. recount? just give up! that's what jEB wants... READ THIS!

State law mandated a recount in such a close election. But since the votes were stored only in the computer's memory, that was impossible. So election officials just certified the race.