After the Florida debacle for counting ballots for the U. S. Presidential 2000 election, the federal government decided to do something about the voting process (technically a state issue) by handing state governments funds to buy into touch screen voting technology, in particular of a company called Diebold. Well, two election seasons later (state in 2002 and federal in 2004), many are just as upset and disgruntled with the new system as they were by the old.
The problem comes in the complexity and secrecy of the software for the new machines. People go to polls, get on a computer, cast their vote, and then trust that the software does the right thing. The truth of the matter is that voting machine manufacturers, such as Diebold, can do anything they want because (A) their software code is proprietary (i.e., it can't be viewed by the public) and (B) there is no paper record of the vote.
There have been all kinds of wild reports of voting problems and fraud in the last two election seasons. Given that the federal government, controlled by republicans, encouraged Diebold's use, and the fact that there have been many verified reports of black voters in Florida being turned away from the polls because they were on some made-up felon list thereby giving Bush the Florida electoral votes twice and thus the presidency twice, it's no wonder people are quick to point fingers at a a possible Bush involvement with the company.
Why have all this secrecy? Why not just have an open, honest voting process? I suggest a system similar to the one used in Cobb County in 2000 in which each voter hand marks their card ballot and inserts it into a counting box which will electronically record its contents and securely store the actual paper ballot for recount purposes. This process would be cheap, open, and fair.
With current technology, specialized ballots can be printed on mass- produced, sequenced-numbered card stock where the voter would randomly select their blank ballot from a pile. This or a similar system should be a clear and logical alternative to the suspected scandal-ridden Diebold software for everyone involved.
So why are the Republicans so adamantly opposed to it?
After the Florida debacle for counting ballots for the U. S. Presidential 2000 election, the federal government decided to do something about the voting process (technically a state issue) by handing state governments funds to buy into touch screen voting technology, in particular of a company called Diebold. Well, two election seasons later (state in 2002 and federal in 2004), many are just as upset and disgruntled with the new system as they were by the old.