March 29, 2024

Florida Elections

Prophet Without Honor?

Leon County's test of its electronic voting machines angered the manufacturer and state officials - then California did a similar test.

Amy Keller | 10/1/2006

MIT professor Ted Selker has suggested that touch screens could be outfitted with an audio-feedback device, with voters wearing headphones and affirming or rejecting their vote as it's read back to them. Voting machinery expert Roy Saltman says that solution still is "not quite independent because it's coming out of the same computer." Another possibility: That a separate vendor take video or a photographic picture of what's been displayed on a DRE screen and that a set of independent reviewers in each precinct compare the sum of those ballots to the tallies reported by the computers.

Meanwhile, the push for paper continues. Citing widespread malfunctions with paperless electronic voting systems, the League of Women Voters in June adopted a resolution affirming its support for a voter-verifiable paper ballot or other paper record of a voter's intent. Former President Jimmy Carter, who monitors elections around the world under the auspices of the Carter Center in Atlanta, has also endorsed the idea of paper ballot printouts that can be audited. "There is no reason these proven techniques, used overseas and in some U.S. states, could not be used in Florida," Carter wrote in a 2004 op-ed piece.

Some, like Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Kurt Browning, suggest taking a wait-and-see approach before implementing an expensive add-on. Browning says a voter-verified paper audit trail simply isn't necessary because of all the redundancies and safeguards already built into the systems. "We believe in these systems. We know these systems to be accurate and secure. We know that they produce accurate vote totals and there's more security on touch screens than any other method out there."

While Browning believes voter-verified paper trails are inevitable, neither federal, state nor local officials appear likely to move on the issue in the near term. A bill in Congress to create a federal requirement for a voter-verified permanent paper record has garnered 203 cosponsors, including six Florida Democrats, but the bill has been bottled up in committee for several years.

In the Florida Senate, three separate bills that would have mandated paper ballot trails died this year in committee. The secretary of state's office has repeatedly deferred to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission for direction. EAC voting standards, however, are voluntary, and the agency doesn't plan to address the issue of independent voter verification until 2007.

To date, only one vendor has applied for certification by Florida to sell the voter-verified paper audit trail technology, says Roberts. She's not sure the system needs it, or that it won't create even more problems. Paper has security risks too, she says. Let the other states be the guinea pigs. "Florida's going to be in a unique position to be able to analyze how it works in this election in other states. Before we leap forward, we want to make sure we're progressing in an appropriate way and make sure we're improving an election," says Roberts.

For now, Clark says she is comfortable with her Seqouia machines. She is keeping an eye on the 28 states that now require independent paper trails. "It doesn't bother me that we're not pioneers. Let's see how this plays out this fall," says Clark.

Tags: Politics & Law, Big Bend, Government/Politics & Law

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