Why is electronic voting even needed? Paper and pen is the best way, because when it IS contested, you can go back to the votes and count them. Electronic is too open to manipulation.
Mechanical lever voting machines are also a good, safe method--because the inner workings are just a simple pedometer. The morning of election day, poll workers can just open up the back of the machine, check that all the counters are set to zero, and verify that all levers are registering correctly.
Electronic voting machines are the worst of both worlds, because poll workers can't examine their innards to verify that everything is working without being high-level computer programmers. Nor is there a physical ballot to hand-recount if things go wrong.
The only way electronic voting could be reasonably secure is if it produced a paper ballot that a voter could verify by hand, which they then carried over to a physical ballot box and placed inside. Would reduce the uncertainty about how votes are marked in a pen-and-paper system but still make a hand-recount possible.
The only way electronic voting could be reasonably secure is if it produced a paper ballot that a voter could verify by hand, which they then carried over to a physical ballot box and placed inside. Would reduce the uncertainty about how votes are marked in a pen-and-paper system but still make a hand-recount possible.
This is petrifying me. I live in Columbus, and I'm honestly worried about the votes being fixed. :| Columbus seems to be all behind Obama despite the obnoxious Republican ads all over the place, but still...
You're not alone. I've seen too many Romney/Ryan signs out my way, and I have an enormous fear of being the next version of the "hanging chad" debacle.
I still don't get how Florida is tilting Romney. I guess the fearmongering about Obama's plans with Medicare must have worked? I just remember a little while ago everyone was forecasting that Romney had lost Florida.
I think that it's ridiculous that the machines are tied to ANY candidate, and if the votes there swing Republican, I hope there's some major side eye and an investigation.
Hart InterCivic said in a statement that it has a "long track record of supporting a fair and open democratic process. Any suggestions that the company might try to influence the outcome of election results is unfounded".
Bull. Shit. Because of ALL the businesses Romney's kid could buy into, he chooses to buy into that? BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT.
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Electronic voting machines are the worst of both worlds, because poll workers can't examine their innards to verify that everything is working without being high-level computer programmers. Nor is there a physical ballot to hand-recount if things go wrong.
The only way electronic voting could be reasonably secure is if it produced a paper ballot that a voter could verify by hand, which they then carried over to a physical ballot box and placed inside. Would reduce the uncertainty about how votes are marked in a pen-and-paper system but still make a hand-recount possible.
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This.
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Also a bit off topic but I am getting really jealous of places with early voting! Here we can't vote until Nov 6 :(
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I think that it's ridiculous that the machines are tied to ANY candidate, and if the votes there swing Republican, I hope there's some major side eye and an investigation.
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Bull. Shit. Because of ALL the businesses Romney's kid could buy into, he chooses to buy into that? BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT. BULLSHIT.
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