According to the WaPo, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a recommendation condemning paperless electronic voting machines. The NIST advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which is charged with looking into ways to improve the voting process in the U.S.
In a report hailed by critics of electronic voting, NIST said that
voting systems should allow election officials to recount ballots
independently from a voting machine's software. The recommendations
endorse "optical-scan" systems in which voters mark paper ballots that
are read by a computer and electronic systems that print a paper
summary of each ballot, which voters review and elections officials
save for recounts.
I'm not a big fan of the "optical-scan" system. Although it would be an improvement over going completely paperless.
Even retro-fitting machines with makeshift printers is not a good idea.
NIST says that voting systems should not rely on a machine's
software to provide a record of the votes cast. Some electronic voting
system manufacturers have introduced models that include printers to
produce a separate record of each vote -- and that can be verified by a
voter before leaving the machine -- but such paper trails have had
their own problems.
Printers have jammed or otherwise failed,
causing some election directors to question whether a paper trail is an
improvement. Maryland state elections administrator Linda Lamone, in an
undated video snippet that her critics have circulated on the Internet,
says that voter verification is unnecessary. "I'm not going to put this
paper on my machines -- it'll be over my dead body, because I just
don't think it works. It really is a false sense of security," she said.
I've argued in the past that one of the first issues the new Democratic Congress needs to address is voting reform. Reports, such as the one by the NIST, should provide ammunition for the cause.
Although I don't back all of the recommendations by the NIST, at least this is progress. The first step in solving the problem is to admit that there is a problem. But the best way to address voter fraud and turnout issues is to move to a national standard that follows Oregon's lead.
The Daily Spectator