Ohio Opts to Put Touch Screen Voting on Hold 32
Dachannien writes "The AP reports that Ohio's Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is asking the Feds for an extension of the deadline for installing touch-screen voting machines at polling places for the 2004 election, citing numerous security concerns. The problems discovered in a review of 57 areas of concern include such gems as "software that permits votes to be counted more than once" and "unauthorized poll workers or others could gain access to hardware that could allow them to perform supervisory tasks, such as closing the polls.""
About time... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:About time... (Score:1)
I, for one, have never had to vote using plain old paper.
Re:About time... (Score:1)
Go Ohio! (Score:2, Insightful)
BTW did we ever figure out why a freaking peice of paper and a pencil is no good?
Paper and Pencil:
Auditable: Yes
Easy to verify: Yes
Hard to counterfiet: Yes
Fast Tallycounts: No
Time in use: Predates recorded history (almost)
Electronic voting:
Audiable: depends
Easy to verify: depends
hard to counterfiet: no
Fast Tallycounts: Yes
Time in use: A couple of years
I don't understand what the insane rush to e-voting is all about. (not flamebait) I suspect it has something to do with the hiss
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:3, Insightful)
Having concerns about minorities being removed from the registration lists is hardly a "hissy fit".
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:1)
It's funny, mostly the people whine that the government never moves fast enough, in this case it seems they moved a bit too fast.
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:1)
Sensationalism from the corporate media?
I'm shocked, shocked I say.
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, in a bit of bait-and-switch, the e-voting machines have been none of the above except for fast, which doesn't help unless they are also accurate. Somehow, I doubt the people elected want total verifiability. Once in a position of power, it becomes almost trivial to fake a vote... Or at least bump your numbers by a few hundred dead people.
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:2, Informative)
There is also no reason why such an important part of our political system can't move forward to newer technologies. When appropriate.
One thing I question is why use touch screen voting? What is wrong with this [diebold.com] solution? Votes are cast on a piece of paper, just take a marker and fill in the appropriate bubble. Only one machine is required per location. So you have a fast co
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:2, Insightful)
True, but with paper ballots there's something to recount if there's an allegation of a mis-count. Electronic ballots can be "lost" as well, and speed should not come at the cost of accuracy.
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:2, Insightful)
Europeans countries all use paper vote (one paper sheet per candidate / option), and you know what?
One hour after poll stations close, 90% of the ballots have already been counted. Two hours after, 95% have been counted.
While polling stations typically close at 6 or 7pm, almost-final results are announced at the 8 or 9 o' clock news.
All were hand-counted. And I'm not speaking or Luxemburg, I'm speaking of 60 to 80 million people nations like the
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:1)
My understanding of European democracy is that voters simply choose a box for the party they're voting for, and then go home.
Here (on the West Coast) you have a huge number of offices to vote on, from Governor to Dogcatcher. As well as all of the Issues that got placed on the ballot by initiative
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:1)
Fast, reliable, and painless.
(set up rules to select what counts as a "filled". Darkness-based for instance. No more pregnant chads again please !)
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:2)
Unfortunately, some people have a very difficult time grasping concepts such as "fill in the bubbles completely" or "punch the "chad" all the way out" which leads to more drama &etc. As I recall, this was part of the whole election debacle in Florida.
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:1)
The right answer is not necessarily an either-or.
Re:Go Ohio! (Score:1)
Now if only my state would clue in (Score:3, Informative)
Basic response: "We're confident that the problems will be fixed in time."
Keep in mind this is one of the only 2 states that have implemented UCITA. Why? "Virginia has implemented it, so we need to implement it to stay competitive."
The (Score:3, Informative)
california SOS requires verifiable voting
Louisiana SOS wants to replace all their ES&S machines, not sure with what yet.
Nevada SOS has called for a public forum to determine if the public wants verifiable voting, he doesn't think its essential for security but recognizes it may have value for public confidence.
New York Assembly passes bill requiring verified voting. Companion bill is awaiting a vote in the NY senate
Russ Holts bill is now up to 84 sponsors some republican. But it's
Re:The (Score:1)
Minor nit:
Informative post, but I happen to have an unhealthy obsession with population stats.
NYC's population is actually larger any small or medium state. To be exact, there are 39 states with fewer people than NYC.
Wisconsin State Elections Board (Score:2)
In January, 2002 the State Elections Board approved two closed source touch screen voting systems, the ES&S Votronic DRE and the GBS Accu-Touch EBS 100 DRE.
This spring I raised the system integrity issues with the Board, and in April they revoked the certifications.
Re:Wisconsin State Elections Board (Score:2)
Re:Now if only my state would clue in (Score:1)
Physical Security (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is: physical security takes money and genuine work by the vendor. Software, as we all know, can be made to "seem" to work rather easily.
How New Mexico does it (Score:2)
and then there's Diebold CEO Walden ODell... (Score:2)
Problem solved! (Score:1)
Demo... (Score:1)
High Tech Solution (Score:1)
Sometimes a high tech solution isn't the best solution.
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