The Austin Chronicle: News: The Hightower Report Trust us, plead the makers of electronic voting machines – our touch-screen systems are state-of-the-art, foolproof marvels!
But – oops – in a couple of recent, high-profile tests, the computers glitched and the makers of the machines had virtual egg all over their faces. First up was Sequoia Voting Systems. Boasting that its machines deliver "nothing less than 100% accuracy," it held a demonstration of its newest technology for California senate staffers in August.
Imagine Sequoia's 100% embarrassment when its machine balked during demonstration votes on a Spanish-language ballot. The testers punched in their votes on the touch screen ... but – oops – the machine did not record the votes, apparently having lost them somewhere in cyberspace. Luckily, this was a test of Sequoia's new system that includes a paper record of every vote – and the paper trail revealed the computer's error, which otherwise would have been undetected, disenfranchising the voter.
The lesson is obvious: These machines must have a paper backup.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
The Austin Chronicle: News: The Hightower Report
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