Over at the fairgrounds this afternoon, the county brought in vendors to demonstrate their voting systems. One Vendor used a exclusive touch screen system, the others featured touch screen and optical ballot options. One even had the ability to transfer from a touch screen to a optical ballot.
Being in the IT realm, I know that the computers that will use this system could potentially, however unlikely, be vunerable to hackers, viruses, and spyware. There is always the possibility (and some have already thrown this accusation) that either a vendor or a third-party could rig the voting.
The paper trail provided by vendors that also have optical systems appear to be secure. I doubt, once the ballot has been printed, it could be altered by the machine after it is prepared for the next voter. Keeping an optical system, however, does alllow for the posability of handling larger numbers of users than the touch-screen, since there is only one machine and multiple people can be on it at the same time.
Comments
2 responses to “The future of elections….”
Richie-
Interesting post, as you and I have discussed this issue before. I read a bit about the county looking into
these machines, and I worry about the issues you have brought up. However unlikely, having these machines
does open the door to the possibility of rigging. With Diebold and others being contributors to political parties
and individual races (guess which party), it makes one wonder… Was this an open demonstration,
and did you attend?
It was an open demo, and not only did I attend, but the J-W caught me red-handed:
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2005/nov/22/69184/