Reply #39: People can make a lot more mistakes with electronic voting

[Eric J in MN]

machines or have the machine make more mistakes:

machine doesn't display all the races for that voter
voter clicks "Send Ballot" before voting in the races he or she wants to
voter presses Kerry, and machine records Bush

With a paper ballot, if the races aren't all there, the voter can say something before casting the vote.

Most people know how to fill in an oval on a piece of paper.

Problems are more likely on a machine they have never used before.

Eveyone should know to fill in one-oval per race.

However, the problem of pressing "Send Ballot" before voting in every race is a mistake almost anyone can make.

Also:

There are optical-scanners which can kick out a ballot if the voter voted in more than one race, to give him or her another try at filling out the ballot properly.

With regard to not filling out the oval all-the-way, or marking it with Xs, that is what hand-recounts are for.