One complaint about the recall election that the Gray Davis camp has put forward is that electronic voting machines will not be ready in time and election officials will have to use paper ballots instead. In fact, electronic voting machines have been continually referenced as the solution to voting woes. Why? Voting machines are not yet a mature technology. Many experts have questioned their reliability and studies have shown that current models have security flaws.
Votes are at the core of our republic. Anything that calls into question the authenticity or validity of an election can throw the country or a locality into turmoil (see: election, Florida). Paper ballots have worked for decades and, for all their problems, leave an trail that can be investigated. Electronic voting machines leave no trail and should be banned until the technology has developed and its security has been vetted. In the meantime, election officials can work on their ballot design.
Posted by nicklawler at August 6, 2003 09:58 AM