Poll: Voters Want Paper Trail
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Almost three-quarters of likely voters think electronic voting systems should produce a paper record the voter can verify, according to a new poll. But that's not likely to happen for many of them in November. By Laila Weir.
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THE RACE: Support for Republican, Democratic candidates in the presidential races in Florida
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After nearly 50,000 Michigan Democrats cast ballots over the Internet in February, academics eagerly sought election data that would help them determine what types of people voted online. But scholars around the country complain that they haven't been able to get statistics from the Feb. 7 caucus.
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Swing-state voters might want to let  the answering machine screen their calls over the next several  weeks -- President Bush or Sen. John Kerry could be on the  line.
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Less than a decade after embracing new election technology, Florida is leading the country back to the paper trail
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A Maryland group seeking paper trails on touch-screen voting machines today sued the State Board of Elections to win the right to monitor polling places on Election Day. -washingtonpost.com
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WASHINGTON - In an election where most voters have already chosen sides, the presidency could be decided by a small slice of America in the mushy middle - wavering voters who are more likely than others to question President Bush's honesty and think the war in Iraq was a mistake.    An Associated Press study of 1,329 "persuadable" voters, conducted by Knowledge Networks in advance of the presidential debates, suggests these people are deeply conflicted about change in the White House...
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LITTLE CHANGE: Three-quarters of voters will use the same machines as in 2000. Nearly 30 percent will vote on punch card and lever machines regarded as unreliable.
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By Bill Hirschman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel  Dec. 12--Broward County's $23 million touch-screen voting system may be scrapped unless commissioners find a way to create a paper trail.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recommended that the U.S. government require touch-screen electronic voting machines to include independent audit technology, such as printouts. "The lack of an independent audit capability in systems is one of the main reasons behind continued questions about voting system security and diminished public confidence in elections," says a NIST paper released this month. "In practical terms the software-dependent approach cannot be made secure or highly reliable." The Technical Guidelines Development Committee of the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) is scheduled to review the NIST's recommendation that direct record electronic (DRE) machines include voter-verified paper trails or other auditing mechanisms at a meeting Monday and Tuesday. DREs do not assure that voting records are accurate, and 15 states using the e-voting machines do not use independent audit mechanisms statewide, the NIST paper says. "Trust in an election outcome relies heavily upon trusting the correctness of the DRE's software and upon trusting that the DRE software has not been replaced or tampered with," the paper says. "Simply put, the DRE architecture's inability to provide for independent audits of its electronic records makes it a poor choice for an environment in which detecting errors and fraud is important." A spokesman for the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), representing e-voting machine vendors, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the NIST recommendations. The ITAA has argued that paper trail ballots may simply print out the same results stored on the DREs. Paper trail systems can be costly to add on to DREs, and printer breakdowns can cause problems during elections, the ITAA has said. One e-voting critic praised the report. "That's really good news," said Barbara Burt, director of the election reform program at Common Cause, one of several groups calling for e-voting paper trails. "It looks like it's going to help us finally get rid of the paperless DREs." NIST's recommendations come after scattered reports of problems with DREs in the Nov. 7 U.S. elections. In Florida's 13th congressional district, Democratic candidate Christine Jennings has filed a lawsuit asking for a revote after 18,000 voters failed to cast a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives race. Two recounts found Republican Vern Buchanan the winner of the race, but Sarasota County did not require the Elections System and Software (ES&S) e-voting machines to include paper printouts to back up the electronic vote. While e-voting supporters say the machines make it hard to undervote, Sarasota County voters cast about 16,000 more votes in the Florida governor's race and in the Florida Senate race than were recorded in the House race. About 4,000 more people cast ballots for the county's Southern District Hospital Board than were recorded in the House race. Thirty-five states either mandate voter-verified paper-trail systems or use them statewide without a mandate, according to the NIST report. But 10 states use paper-trail ballots on a county-by-county basis, and five states, including Maryland, Georgia and Louisiana, use DREs statewide without paper- trail ballots. The NIST paper published this month recommends states use "software-independent" voting systems, using either paper-trail ballots or cryptographic audit systems instead of relying on the "correctness of the software" for election results. The paper suggests that the EAC require audit mechanisms in e-voting machines, and recommends that federal election officials stop certifying e-voting machines without independent audit systems after 2009 or 2010.ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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DRE is down and skepticism is up -- way up -- as the 2008 election season confronts the realities of electronic voting. The famously independent voters of New Hampshire (who vote today) never did go for touchscreen tabulation, but a check with states around the country finds plenty of uproar.
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WASHINGTON As we enter the last days before the presidential election, Americans seem skeptical about the voting process. A new Associated Press Ipsos-Public Affairs poll finds that 60 percent of those asked
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Dissatisfied with Congress, voters would probably hang a "Help Wanted" sign on the U.S. Capitol if given the chance. "They're not doing their job," says Scott Newland, 39, an independent voter who backed President Bush in 2004.
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Presidential Guidester polls voters, matches their positions with those of candidates.
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Political polling outfits exclude cell phone users from this year's presidential surveys. But a new survey indicates that mobile phone users are a distinct voting group whose ballot preferences might not be reflected in traditional polls. By Elisa Batista.
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PHOENIX -- When residents of Maricopa, Ariz., south of Phoenix, vote in the presidential primaries Tuesday, it will be against a backdrop of vacant storefronts and sprawling, terra-cotta-roofed subdivisions that are studded with for-sale signs as far as the eye can see.
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Voters are torn between competing cravings: Change or experience in 2008? They are demanding something new, but there is comfort in the tried and true.