Letter: The real issue: Voter-verified paper records
One reader explains what jurisdictions will be using as voting machines.
Regarding "House defeats paper ballot funding": [In] writing about the shortcomings of touchscreen voting machines, you missed the point.
It's not that there's no paper record. It's that even if there is a paper record it's a record that the voter has not had the opportunity to verify. So a "recount" of the paper stored inside the machine tells you nothing about whether the machine accurately recorded the voter's intention. That can only be done with a voter-verified paper record.
That's why most jurisdictions that have used touchscreen machines are going back to voter-marked paper ballots, counted with optical scanners -- if not this year then certainly by 2010.
Michael Berla
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It's not that there's no paper record. It's that even if there is a paper record it's a record that the voter has not had the opportunity to verify. So a "recount" of the paper stored inside the machine tells you nothing about whether the machine accurately recorded the voter's intention. That can only be done with a voter-verified paper record.
That's why most jurisdictions that have used touchscreen machines are going back to voter-marked paper ballots, counted with optical scanners -- if not this year then certainly by 2010.
Michael Berla
What do you think? Paste a comment in the box below (registration required), or send your comment to letters@fcw.com (subject line: Blog comment) and we'll post it.
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