Paper ballot elections waste a lot of paper. Paper ballot elections are the most expensive way to conduct elections. Voters make more errors on paper ballots, especially by over voting and voiding their ballot. Absentee ballot fraud incidents are increasing, adding to a long history of paper ballot fraud.
The original voting machine, lever machines which are still used in New York State, were invented to stop the notorious Tammany Hall political machine. The direct response electronic machine was well received by voters and administrators. Machines eliminated lines, provided the voter with instant feedback. In spite of Oprah's hysteria over her machine alert - she forgot to vote for Barack! If Oprah had used a paper ballot, her undervote would have gone undetected.
Nancy Doty, the elected Clerk and Recorder in Arapahoe County, insisted on keeping her machines. Ken Gordon, former Democratic Speaker of the Colorado House, manipulated proceedings and recommendations of a statewide Election Reform Commission. Gordon wanted to force all Colorado counties into paper ballot systems by 20l0. Millions of dollars worth of machines, some only purchased a few years ago, were to be trashed immediately.
Nancy Doty helped get the date pushed back to 20l4. Rush Holt (D-NJ) has introduced Congressional legislation mandating all paper systems by 2016. Understandably, Nancy Doty questions Rush Holt's authority and arrogance. Although Congress does have some Constitutional entitlement, election administration has historically been left to the states. Nancy Doty and other election administrators see Holt and other politicians' activism as an infrigement on state's rights.
Fools Rush in. Listen to Nancy Doty.
Comments
I have to disagree with the comment that paper ballot elections are the most expensive. While this may be true in a polling place setting, a mail ballot election (using paper ballots) is a very inexpensive option and meets all HAVA requirements. The county where I work in Colorado already has 70% of our registered voters opting for mail-in ballots. I hope to see this trend continue and perhaps the State go to an all-mail voting system.
Dub: Thank you for commenting and corresponding with me via Facebook. I appreciate informed readers and hope you will continue to comment and make suggestions. Yes, it is true all mail elections may be less expensive in certain situations. Keep in mind, when the voter lists are not maintained and bloated, all mail is more expensive. And, extremely vulnerable to fraud. I'm concerned about signature verification as well. While some counties (I'm certain yours is exemplary!)do an excellent job,some don't. It hasn't been accurately reported that Norm Coleman won by over 700 votes on election day. Franken's attorneys took advantage of countes appling the law differently, and found his margin of victory in that margin of error. I believe this will be a calculated strategy for both sides in future elections. The Democrats have been more agressive winning elections via the courts and recounts(in spite of the urban myths surrounding Bush v Gore in 2000). Wait till an R claims victory that way!
1. Jan Tyler Bio says she attended THE ELECTION CENTER for years supported by the suppliers of the T-Screen voting devices
2. The supervisor's background is strong in accounting but NOT in running the counties largest computer operation, and these days with over 400 computers with a term life span she needs to be.
3. It is not fraud that takes it toll but machine failure, and the cost of maintenance of over 400 computers is very large, lets figure that into all in cost to the comparison of paper ballots.
4. List maintenance 90 days prior to a Federal elections is against the law for a very good reason, the Federal Election officals want to make sure that if information is asked for to vote the voter has time to get it in.
5. Centeral records have one big problem, with the increase efficiency comes loss of control by local SOE's and disaster when systems go down as they have in other States.
Lets not let objectivity and prior training get in the way of a fair comparison
NEW FACTS: Thank you for taking the time to comment. The Election Center, and most election officials, have been demonized by activists for years. While vendors often paid for lunches or receptions, TEC had an off limits policy. I can honestly say in the decade I have attended events, I have never even been approached by a vendor. It is a total misresentation to portray TEC, or most officials, as being influenced by vendors. Often activists have absolutely no clue how elections work. 99.9% of what I see in the bloggosphere is almost laughably untrue or inaccurate. Few elected officials are computer experts. Of course, in Colorado's case, we've suffered, but not with elections (unemployment, food stamps) Insisting being a computer expert is more important than being a CPA is a perfect example of an activist's notion of how things should work. Do you believe Barack Obama is a skilled computer expert? I forgot. There's a double standard for him. To be continued.
Name one computer failure in CO? The fact is there have been a handful of computer failures. It is simply not true, however, that voting machine failures have cost more than paper ballot system failures. I didn't say list maintenance 90 days. You distort to make your point. There are many,many juridictions strategically not maintaining. It provides a margin of error where elections can be won in the courts. Philadelphia is the best example, but there are many more, including a CA city in Maxine Water's district. She feighned shock when she learned of a scheme to vote those ineligible names. I have found it is the activists, many of whom are hysterical over imagined fantasies (see earlier Camille Paglia posts), who create far more problems than any professional organization or election official. And, those activists have not a shred of objectivity. Jan
Voting machines are unconstitutional...dows anyone know that???
I appreciate the sincerity of all involved here.
We should all agree integrity of the count is vital, and that it must be transparent. Regardless of any opinion, the machines cannot be trusted, because the vulnerability to hacking.
Also, after adding the total cost of the machines, hand counts with volunteers are far cheaper. Nancy Tobi has videos of how it is done: Hand count in the precincts. I can't enter a link here, but google democracyfornewhampshire. Look for the three videos, especially "Wilton". See how a self auditing hand count actually works.
Chris & sweetina: Thank you for taking the time to comment. You illustrate an important point. Tina, please consult a constitutional attorney. You will find voting machines are not unconstitutional. Chris, your statement that machines are vulnerable to hacking is also an opinion, no matter how many clever videos are produced to prove that point. And, no matter how many sincere, yes, but misguided academics are enlisted to stage testing results. Anti-machine activists have won the battle of public opinion, and therefore have won over the politicians. That does not mean that the outcome of one, single election has been affected by machine failures or hacking. The same cannot be said about paper ballot systems. Counting paper ballots at the precinct level would simply result in chaos, expense and further damage to the public's confidence in elections.Norm Coleman won on election night. His attorneys successfully won with the margin of error. I doubt most citizens want 7 month elections.
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