Reply #5: FL: Do voting machines need trail of paper? [View All]

[MelissaB]

Do voting machines need trail of paper?

Mark K. Matthews | Washington Bureau
Posted November 19, 2006

SARASOTA -- Touch-screen voting machines were supposed to be the answer, a response to the chaos of the 2000 presidential election.

Instead, the discovery of about 18,000 electronic votes recorded as blank in a tight race for Congress has created a new black eye for Florida elections.

A paper trail might have provided clues to what happened Nov. 7, but Florida officials have balked at requiring such backup. The state Legislature repeatedly has killed measures to require a verifiable paper trail, and neither Gov. Jeb Bush nor the secretary of state's office has pushed the idea.

So six years after late-night comedians joked about "bringing democracy to Florida," the state still has not found a way to hold elections without controversy.


More: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-voteprobs1906nov19,0,2122752.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state