Electronic Voting Machines

Paper Summary:

In the United States, Congress decided after the 2000 Presidential elections that the old, punch card voting system was prone to error and had to be replaced with an electronic, computer-based, touchscreen system. The author of the paper examines this decision and its implementation and points out some of the problems and dangers arising from a move to purely electronic voting systems. Some of the problems noted include the following: electronic voting has no paper record of the individual's vote, computer systems and software designed for the system proved to be flawed and highly prone to system crashes and finally, insufficient governmental supervision of the companies charged with developing and manufacturing the system.

From the Paper:

"The truly audacious aspect of this lack of a paper trail with touch-screen voting is that the other machines created by Diebold and their ilk DO have 'paper trails.' Ask yourself: would you use an ATM that didn't dispense a receipt informing you of your balance, so you could be made aware immediately of a bank computer error? Would you use your credit card at a store that did not give you a receipt, so you could check to see if you had been overcharged? Of course not--you would shift to another bank or use another store. But this act of faith was exactly what Diebold was expected of American voters. And voters in states like Georgia that only use electronic voting cannot move their votes, like consumers can move their dollars, to a more reliable venue."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cringely, Robert. (4Dec 2003). "No Confidence Vote." PBS. Retrieved 19 Feb 2008 athttp://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2003/pulpit_20031204_000794.html
• Kantor, Andrew. (4 Jun 2004). "More Problems Arise with 'black box voting.' USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2004-06-04-kantor_x.htm
• Krugman, Paul. (2 Dec 2003). "Hack the Vote." The New York Times. Retrieved 19 Feb 2008 athttp://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE2DF1E3AF931A35751C1A9659C8B63
• "The Official Election-Watcher's Glossary: Race for the White House." (31 Dec 2007). The Independent. Retrieved 19 Feb 2008 at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/in-the-news/race-for-whitehouse/the-official-electionwatchers-glossary-777868.html

More papers on Electronic Voting Machines:

• Essay # 98291 : "Electronic Voting"
• Research Paper # 57300 : "Electronic Voting"
• Essay # 115168 : "America's Voting System"

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