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The Help America Vote Act required that direct-recording machines generate a paper record suitable for a manual recount -- but not necessarily a voter-verifiable paper trail. Since the paper-trail debate arose after the law was passed, the federal government does not have a policy for or against them, according to Gracia Hillman, chair of the Election Assistance Commission.
Many jurisdictions may adopt direct-recording machines simply because it is the most expedient way to comply with the accessibility provision of the voting act, Hillman says. The act required that every voting place have a voting machine accessible by the disabled, and appropriated $100 million for accessible machines, but did not specify what kind of equipment should be purchased.
The election commission has already ruled that punch cards and lever machines do not meet the disabled-access requirement. But beyond that, no election technology is either required or outlawed. “In today’s market the [direct-recording devices] provide such access, although there are also a couple of electronic systems for marking optical scanner cards,” says Hillman. “The key is for blind voters to get audio instruction and confirmation through voice feedback.”
Hillman expects that most jurisdictions will hold their elections with mixed systems, each offering a technology-of-choice for most voters, as well as one accessible direct-recording machine for the disabled at each polling place.
As for the standards called for in the GAO report, the Election Assistance Commission may issue them as early as this week, says Hillman. “But the effective date will not be in 2006, so as not to disrupt the process for jurisdictions currently purchasing machines for the next election," she says. "There is just not enough time for national certification between now and the 2006 election.”
Types of Voting Equipment in 2004 in U.S. General Election
Equipment Type |
Percentage of Voters Using It |
Optical Scan |
39.8 |
Electronic |
25.0 |
Lever |
12.4 |
Punch Cards |
9.0 |
Mixed Systems |
7.7 |
Paper Ballots |
1.8 |
Unknown |
4.4 |
Source: Election Data Services
Experts say that when it comes to voting machines, usability issues should be as much of a concern as security.
Guest (Owen N. Martinez)
Besides being more susceptible to tampering, electronic voting may scare a lot of voters that are not used to high technology, particularly minorities. I would recommend a mixed system, that will maintain a paper trail for good auditing of the election results, plus easy electronic voting, only after giving special training to voters about using high-tech voting machines.
Guest (R. Mercuri)
I found it interesting that the author chose to round down the Optical Scanner voting statistic from 39.8 (in the table) to 30% (in the article). Where I went to school, 39.8 rounds to 40%, but maybe thats not the way they do things at MIT. -) As it turns out, around 60% of voters used some form of paper ballots in the 2004 election, a percentage that has remained fairly constant since the 1980s.
Guest (R. Mercuri)
I found it interesting that the author chose to round down the Optical Scanner voting statistic from 39.8 (in the table) to 30% (in the article). Where I went to school, 39.8 rounds to 40%, but maybe thats not the way they do things at MIT. -) As it turns out, around 60% of voters used some form of paper ballots in the 2004 election, a percentage that has remained fairly constant since the 1980s.
Guest (Jack R)
I was suprised to discover that the idea of voting over the Web has not been included in a list of electronic voting options. It would seem that the technology to verify oneself against a federal and state database could be made available with current technology. Based on ones registration, the available voting list could be displayed. After submitting ones vote, the results could be checked and any questions answered before the final tally is made.
Guest (Owen N. Martinez)
Besides being more susceptible to tampering, electronic voting may scare a lot of voters that are not used to high technology, particularly minorities. I would recommend a mixed system, that will maintain a paper trail for good auditing of the election results, plus easy electronic voting, only after giving special training to voters about using high-tech voting machines.
Guest (R. Mercuri)
I found it interesting that the author chose to round down the Optical Scanner voting statistic from 39.8 (in the table) to 30% (in the article). Where I went to school, 39.8 rounds to 40%, but maybe thats not the way they do things at MIT. -) As it turns out, around 60% of voters used some form of paper ballots in the 2004 election, a percentage that has remained fairly constant since the 1980s.
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Guest (Jack R)
Voting over the Web
I was suprised to discover that the idea of voting over the Web has not been included in a list of electronic voting options. It would seem that the technology to verify oneself against a federal and state database could be made available with current technology. Based on ones registration, the available voting list could be displayed. After submitting ones vote, the results could be checked and any questions answered before the final tally is made.
Reply