TR: How do U.S. elections compare to those in other democracies?

Saltman: There is a very disaggregated system in the United States for carrying out elections. This is very, very unusual. For example, everybody in Brazil uses the same kind of voting equipment. That's possible because Brazil, even though it's a federal republic, has a strong national election commission. By contrast, in the U.S., some states, including Florida, allow the counties to select their own equipment.

TR: Even if we had consistent application of good voting technologies, what problems would remain?

Saltman: There need to be rules that prevent state government election administrators on the highest levels from serving as chairmen of their parties' election campaigns. In 2000, Katherine Harris was the secretary of state in Florida and also the cochair of the George W. Bush campaign in Florida. She made decisions following the voting that were partisan in favor of Bush. In 2004, J. Kenneth Blackwell was cochair of the Bush campaign in Ohio. He was also the secretary of state of Ohio. Now Blackwell is running for governor on the Republican ticket--while still serving as secretary of state. He's supervising his own election.