Elegant Answer to the Voting Machine Debacle ....

[Trajan]

First: CONGRATULATIONS to the citizens of the great state of California ... They have FINALLY interjected reason into the Voting Machine debate .... and they should thank their outstanding SoS, Debra Bowen for her clear thinking in this matter ...

OK .... now for the real reason for this thread:

They needn't toss out the Voting Machines, because they still have a purpose : Creating voter-verified paper ballots using machines that are accessible by the disabled, and easily used by all voters ... Ballots that are checked and verified - BY THE VOTER - AFTER they are printed, and then placed - BY THE VOTER - into a ballot box, which can be COUNTED BY HAND ..... In the Open ....

We could STILL use Touch Screen voting, and benefit from their ability to aid the disabled ... All we have to do is disconnect the network, and STOP COUNTING with the machines .....

Don't COUNT with Touch Screens : Just CAST BALLOTS with them .... Then count the ballots, by hand, for as long as it takes to accurately count them .....

I had a laugh reading a statement from Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) where he implored, 'Tens of millions of additional ballots, you don't just go to Kinkos,' Weir said. 'The timing is way too tight.' .... Tortured logic from GOP apologists ....

A truly laughable statement on it's face (millions of lottery tickets are printed each and every day), but one that could be easily resolved by simply disconnecting the DRE's from any networks, forcing them to operate LOCALLY and AUTONOMOUSLY, and to use them ONLY to select and print ballots ..... They could print as many ballots as there are voters, Mr. Adams ...

Then EVERYONE is happy ..... Except the cheaters .....

This is what should have been done from the very start: Use touch screen machines to make voting accessible to disabled voters by PRINTING regular ballots (like ATM receipts) , and then counting them by hand ..... They perverted the whole idea by placing the entire election process within the invisible confines of an electronic environment ...... That is their hiding place .....

[Cleita]

1. The machines, as being used, were violating basic accounting

principles. What they are is a cash register, but instead of money, they are tabulating votes. Yet every store in the universe counts the money and other transaction receipts against the tapes generated by the registers to balance them at the end of the day. Otherwise if you don't do this, you might as well throw money and make change out of a cigar box. There is no way of telling if the sales receipts are accurate with this method and it invites theft. This is the way the voting machines were being used as a cigar box making it so easy to steal.

The voting machines have their uses, but there needs to be rules and source documents, the original paper votes, to "balance" against the machine tabulations at the end of the voting day.

[Trajan]

3. Oh yeah .....

They have been placing all the votes into their magic bag ..... Then; a wave of the hand, an 'Abbracadabra' or two, and POOF ! ...

THEY win .....

It must be stopped ... and this is a great effort in the right direction .... finally ....

[demodonkey]

2. Have you ever tried to actually READ one of these "toilet paper roll" ballots?

They are printed in like 6 to 8 point type on a narrow strip of flimsy thermal paper which is much worse than a gas station receipt. Bring your magnifying glasses and your bifocals.

Oh yes, and the roll is 300 - 400 feet long, so better reserve the nearest football field to roll them out on.

If a machine printed out full sized individual plain paper ballots (like AccuPoll did, but they went out of business) it COULD work the way you said. But to permanently have to use these toilet paper rolls for hand counts would be lunacy.

I think Bowen is working her way toward optical scan and audits, which is the the safest and most logical long-range solution.

[Trajan]

4. Ah .... The 'It's a Toilet Roll' gambit .....

You know : Democracy is hard work ...... and if that hard work means you have to flatten a few pieces of paper, then what's the big problem ? .....

What's all the whining about ? .....

Funny: When I get my ATM receipt: it is a nice, FLAT rectangle of paper ..... perfectly UNrolled, and crisp as a new dollar bill ..... and the print is clear as a bell .... With print types of multiple sizes .... because printers can be commanded to print BIGGER, if one wishes it .... Then you can throw away the monocle ....

Maybe it's time to switch banks ..... and then perhaps you can stop whining about the curvature of paper rolls and how you would let it stop the drive toward fair elections .... because you don't like how the paper curls .....

It is amazing how many lame excuses arise when the very essence of democracy is at stake .....

Many don't like the Optical Scan's for the same reason they don't trust DRE's .... I defer to them when I say 'Count by Hand' ..... I have no problem with LOCALLY operated, autonomous ballot counting machines counting votes on a ballot, as long as the programmed algorithms are fully vetted, approved, certified, verified at count time, and protected from alteration during the entire election ....

[librechik]

5. Voting officials are well aware of this

they want something other than clarity and solutions, obviously.