WaPo: "This is a moment of truth for electronic voting"

[kpete]

"This is a moment of truth for electronic voting,"
Tech Trouble in the Voting Booth
Jurisdictions May Not Be Ready for New Gear, Analysis Says

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, July 26, 2006; A15

Last year, a report called "Asking the Right Questions About Electronic Voting" took a look at the issues surrounding the move by most of the country's election jurisdictions to electronic voting machines. The report's theoretical approach contrasted with the often bitter dispute about the security of the technology between activists and voting-machine vendors.

The report's authors -- a committee of National Research Council experts, including prominent computer scientists and two former governors -- then turned their attention to this year's elections. What they found, according to a council analysis released yesterday, is not reassuring:

"Some jurisdictions -- and possibly many -- may not be well prepared for the arrival of the November 2006 elections with respect to the deployment and use of electronic voting equipment and related technology, and anxiety about this state of affairs among election officials is evident in a number of jurisdictions."

More than a third of all of the nation's 8,000 voting jurisdictions will use new voting technology for the first time this year, according to Election Data Services.

"This is a moment of truth for electronic voting," said panel co-chairman Richard L. Thornburgh, a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. attorney general. "You've got a lot of people who are working for the first time with the new technology. It should impart a greater note of caution than what you might normally attend to a regular election."

more at:
http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2006%2F07%2F25%2FAR2006072501355_pf.html

13-page report from the National Academies of Sciences
http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20060725.html

[marmar]

1. Seems that there is little "truth" in electronic voting....

All of those machines need to be smashed into a thousand pieces.

[Skink]

2. Just another chance for the thugs to work out the bugs.

[niallmac]

3. No moment of truth.

Gizmo voting machines will always be suspect. They insure that people suspect
the vote count.
I am still amazed how ATMs never lose a nickle
but when it comes to registering individual votes
why all of a sudden the task is more formidable than
landing on the moon.

[CrispyQ]

5. Someday they'll solve the problem buy charging citizens to vote.

Can't afford to vote? Too fucking bad. It's your own fault for being a loser.


Arghhh!!!!! :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. don't own property? sorry

cant vote.

I like to point out to the republicans who think homeless
shouldnt be allowed to vote - that there are a fair
amount of veterans who are homeless.

Shall we keep them from voting too?

[mod mom]

4. 13 page report is a must read and should be sent to newspapers around

the country.

[mod mom]

9. fyi, in case you don't want to register....

there is a"letter" version you can click on below.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. its not a moment of truth, its a frackin nightmare

Its a gigantic IT project being implemented simultaneously
across the US without proper IT support.

Its a big crap shoot.

[demodonkey]

8. From the Report: "Advocacy groups have gained considerable influence..."

Page 6: “Advocacy groups have gained considerable influence in the debate regarding electronic voting. Many of these groups focus on security issues and play an increasingly important role in focusing public attention on the conduct of elections and in stimulating state legislative action intended to mitigate security risks.”