Reply #17: WE MUST GET RID OF ELECTRONIC VOTING PERIOD

[Carolab]

A "paper trail" is NOT the solution. You are still relying on a machine to correctly tabulate the vote and also relying on the tabulation at the central tabulation machine to be accurate. Remember that the vote you SEE on the receipt can still be altered inside the polling machine you use and/or in the central tabulator.

Think about it: You check the receipt. It goes in a box somewhere. Those electronic votes can still be changed and a new receipt printed. How are you going to prove that the receipt you saw is the receipt that is actually counted?

Without a piece of paper that ties you, personally, to that ballot, there is no proof at all. If you are given a receipt with a number and your precinct number, you can take that number in, present ID to verify that you were listed as a registered voter within that precinct, and request to see the votes recorded against it in the database. If the results are not the way you voted (or remember that you voted), how do you prove it? By requesting that the ballot registered to the number on the receipt be retrieved.

Some I have discussed this with argue that providing a voter receipt violates privacy. But you could be given an encrypted receipt (one that doesn't show the results because they would be encoded) and take it in (i.e., to your city hall) to be scanned to see whether or not it matches the results in the database registed against the number. You should also be able to verify that that database in which your votes are recorded shows the complete, official election results (to make sure it is the "official" database).

After you check your vote, your name would get checked off in the database so that no one else could come in with your receipt and try to view your vote.

The above scenario might be possible.

But, how much easier is it to just fill out a ballot and drop it in a box and have those ballots hand counted at the end of the day? Who cares if it takes a little longer? These recounts and lawsuits can drag on and on! I've even heard it said that "machine voting is cheaper". Oh, really? How much does pen and paper cost? And volunteers to count the votes?

THIS WHOLE E-VOTING THING IS A PURE SCAM DESIGNED TO BILK US OF TAXPAYER MONEY AND MAKE DIEBOLD, ET AL, RICH, ALL THE WHILE ROBBING US OF OUR VOTE AND OUR DEMOCRACY!

I say: OUTLAW THE DAMNED MACHINES ALTOGETHER!