From Jim Gilliam's blog archives
Why is it so hard to count a vote?
February 4, 2004 8:51 AM
The San Jose Mercury News did an extensive investigation into the potential vote tampering during the recall election I mentioned last October.
The fundamental problem? There's no paper trail of votes cast, and the software that counts the votes is a "trade secret" of a private corporation. So there is no way to verify that the software accurately counted the votes. We have to trust the corporation -- which is scary by itself -- but it's completely nutso considering all the problems that have already been identified. If I was running Diebold, I would be so embarassed of these problems, and so eager to allay concerns about the fact that my product is screwing up elections, that I would provide my source code for independent review immediately. But that hasn't happened. Makes you wonder, huh? In response to these issues, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has ordered that all counties use machines that provide paper trails by 2006.
Why is it so hard to count a vote? (02.04.2004)
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