Americans are taught to be proud of their governmental institutions
and the constitution on which they are founded. The American constitution has been an inspiration for democracy around the
world.
Often, the only tangible action connecting the voter to those
who represent them in their Congress and the White House is the vote. Many voters were surprised and dismayed at the confusion
and unseemliness of the Florida
vote in 2000 and the resolution of that Presidential race by the US Supreme Court in December 2000 when they stopped the recount.
This international embarrassment was simply due to our inability to count the votes with confidence and our prior neglect
of the accuracy and integrity of the voting process.
In an attempt to rectify this deficiency Congress passed the
HAVA Act, which, among other things, attempts to set standards for voting technology. As a consequence the Pennsylvania State
Plan will likely force many counties, including BucksCounty,
to adopt DRE, direct recording electronic (‘computer’) voting machines to replace their mechanical lever machines
before the 2006 elections.
What many voters fail to appreciate is the lack of a rigorous
quality control system for DRE voting technology. The machines are not secure against deliberate fraud, are demonstrably unreliable,
and they are costly to maintain.
The security issue is easily confirmed by comparing the measures
adopted to detect fraud in electronic slot machines as opposed to DRE voting machines.
.
Slot machines
DRE voting machines
Software open to
state
inspection and review
Yes
No
Ethical standards
for vendors
Yes
No
Certification labs
independent
from vendors
Yes
No
Random audits
of equipment
Yes
No
Continuous
upgrading of
quality standards
Yes
No
Clearly the integrity of slot machines is more important
than that of DRE voting machines!
And how does the State of Nevada approach this
issue with respect to their own DRE voting machines? They are the exception that proves the rule; they apply the same standards
to DRE voting machines that they apply to slot machines.
