The new touch-screen voting machines that we're using in South Florida are seriously flawed. Yet again, Florida has the potential for another Election Day debacle. However, that's not the bad news. The bad news is that our leaders are in a state of denial about the problem.
If you're a regular reader of this column, you know that I have a strong pro-technology bias. I like technology and think that it can largely replace our paper and pencil ways. I've always been an early adopter of new technologies and you can't find even a single legal pad in my office. I rarely print anything and am quite comfortable with my most valuable information living paperlessly on hard drives only. ("Hard drives" is plural because you can never have too many backups.)
While computerized voting is here to stay and conceptually superior to anything else, that's not the issue. The issue is that the current systems are flawed. Until we fix these problems, we'll just have to bear the cost of creating a voter-verified paper trail. That's the backup and while expensive, it pales in comparison to the costs of the presidential election fiasco of 2000.
In a paper published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Symposium on Security and Privacy, the authors said the following regarding one particular commonly used electronic voting system, "We identify several problems including unauthorized privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes." In case you're not a techie, this loosely translates into, "The system is a disaster."
There is more than one way to implement a paper backup system. One good way starts with the voter entering her selections on a touch screen. Next, the terminal prints out a paper ballot behind a transparent shield and the voter reviews it. If she approves, she presses "Accept" and the machine deposits her ballot in a lockbox attached to the voting terminal.
The electronically stored vote is the one that we count unless there's a problem. If a problem arises or the law otherwise requires a recount, the paper ballots come into play.
Before you start sending me emails about the many problems with this system, I'll tell you that I agree that my suggestion is flawed. However, the alternative of not having some kind of paper trail is even worse and the problems aren't just theoretical.
For example, a recent electronic voting problem in Palm Beach and Broward Counties passed under most people's radar screens because it was a low-profile election.
What happened was that in a January 2004 election, the computer recorded 130 blank ballots in a race decided by 12 votes. Common sense says that something went wrong because I can't believe that 130 people showed up to vote on a single question ballot, but chose not to cast a vote after they had taken the time to show up. Not surprisingly, the runner-up asked for a recount. However, without a paper backup system, a recount wasn't possible. Stolen election? I suppose we will never know.
It may be too late for the next Election Day, but we must change the law to require a paper backup. Yes, it will be expensive. Too bad.
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