European Tribune - Comments - A reliable voting method

A reliable voting method | 8 comments (8 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Too complicated for me (none / 0)

Optical scan systems work fine. They are:

Cheap -- one machine can read a ballot every 30 seconds or less. We handled about 700 votes at my precinct with one machine and never had a line for the ballot reader while sometimes having a wait for one of the 12-15 privacy booths. Printing the ballots is a little expensive though (have to be very precise).
Verifiable -- the hard copy stays behind in the machine where human eyes can re-check. If the machine fails, you can store the ballots in a secure can for later reading.
error friendly -- you can set the machine to spit back ballots with over votes, bad marks etc so people can re-do. Undervotes go thru which is a problem but at some point people have to do their part of the job (and many choose to skip races they don't care about).
Pretty reliable -- I'm sure any electronic system could be hacked if someone on the inside tried hard enough. But old fashioned paper ballots were subject to fraud for centuries. Otherwise, we never had any serious technical problems with our machines.

PS -- "awkward paper trails"???? I guess one man's awkward is another's verifiable hard copy.....

by HiD on Thu Aug 25th, 2005 at 06:56:40 AM EST

Re: Too complicated for me (none / 0)

With optical scans, if hard copies are not verified, you are not sure what the machine is counting, what the returned numbers really mean. In the last US election, the biggest discrepancies between exit polls and official results were in precincts with optical scans.

My method gives a physical assurance of what is counted. This is an essential feature - people can be sure of what is counted.

The main problem with old-fashioned paper ballots is that their counting is so "obvious" that is never appropriately specified. That gives opportunities for authority abuse, for example.

"Awkward" is relative. Compared with my method, a separate paper trail is an awkward addition. Besides, if paper trail is not verified, you don't know whether the numbers are correct.

by das monde on Thu Aug 25th, 2005 at 11:02:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Too complicated for me (none / 0)

Sorry, I don't buy it.

but good luck.

by HiD on Fri Aug 26th, 2005 at 06:18:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

A reliable voting method | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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