Reply #21: I would give that paper maybe a C

[OnTheOtherHand]

It's a rather poorly written student paper that is about nine years old. And it gives the impression that NYC was switching over to e-voting in 1995. "It was a hefty investment of $69 million for 7,000 machines." (Source: Sullivan, New York Times) Well, here's what Sullivan actually wrote, courtesy of Lexis-Nexis:

If Mayor Giuliani gave the go-ahead, New York City would use computerized machines in a Bronx assembly district in November. By 1997, according to the Board of Elections, the machines would be installed throughout the Bronx, and other boroughs would follow. Eventually, the city is expected to buy 7,000 computerized machines. The price tag for the entire project is $59 million.

Did this happen? Well, no. NYC still votes on lever machines. Here is a fun story about it:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/election/2004/voting_fanelli01.asp

If you are a glutton for punishment, you can plow through the NYC pollworker's manual to learn about operating procedures:
http://vote.nyc.ny.us/pdf/documents/boe/pollworkers/pollworkersmanual.pdf

So far the Verified Voting map seems pretty accurate, although there are some ambiguities in its coverage:
http://verifiedvoting.org/verifier/

(EDIT: By the way, the point of the original post was that op-scan tabulators can be hacked, which is true and important. That's why we need random audits.)