Electronic voting machines

[Pujo]

Curious what you folks think of electronic voting machines.

[scout]

There shouldn't even be a discussion on this. We should have the most secure (with receipt), advanced system of voting machine possible. Voters waiting in lines for hours is unacceptable. We can sell megabuck lottery tickets with receipts, but we can't give a receipt for voting? There also should be a better check and balance on the voting machines. Something is wrong when the manufacturer of a voting machine assures the country that his candidate will win.

[Pujo]

Originally Posted by scout

There shouldn't even be a discussion on this. We should have the most secure (with receipt), advanced system of voting machine possible. Voters waiting in lines for hours is unacceptable. We can sell megabuck lottery tickets with receipts, but we can't give a receipt for voting? There also should be a better check and balance on the voting machines. Something is wrong when the manufacturer of a voting machine assures the country that his candidate will win.

Them not allowing outside companies to inspect their source-code is scary. Any programmer could slip in some code to allow the machine, say, to give a certain candidate 1 extra vote for every 5 they get, and nobody would be the wiser.

Republicans are mum on this (where's the outrage?), because it seems to help them at the moment. Do the conservatives here think that the ends justify the means and electing a Republican President in an unfair election (assuming any of this actually happens, for all I know the companies could be 100% honest) is a better alternative than a Democrat elected fairly? I'm not being a wiseass, just wondering where we all stand.

[Patters]

I think voting should be largely manual, with some minor electronic controls (such as to count ballots). Voting should be a local community enterprise, where people gather and actually count ballots while representatives of various parties witness the counting. This is how the French do it, and I think it's good in terms of promoting civic responsibility.

[PatsFanInEaglesLand]

We should all go to butterfly ballots

[DarrylS]

How about some hanging chads, with the Florida election officials to supervise how they are counted.