Reported by The Economist

Undertoad · 11-27-2001, 10:37 AM

Just one quick note - Abington, as part of Montgomery County, uses all-electronic voting machines. They work well. Some folks, who are not computer folks, are intimidated by them (and as a result, almost nobody will cast a write-in vote here).

Except for the voter identity problem, the electronic machines reduce the chance of error or fraud. To count the votes, you press a button in the back of the machine, and a tape is printed with the complete counts for that machine. The only votes tallied by hand are the absentee ballots. The count is finished 10 minutes after the polls close.

Most polling places post the printed tapes at the door, so it gets harder to introduce fraud, as almost anyone can check the results. As long as those machines are audited somehow, it would be pretty hard to steal an election through fraud here.

Why did Montco go for the expensive electronic machines? I don't know! Philly needs them more; that's where all the fraud is. What if there's a "Florida" situation in Pennsylvania? All the counties have different voting methods. It'd be a mess.

11-27-2001, 10:37 AM	#7
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Just one quick note - Abington, as part of Montgomery County, uses all-electronic voting machines. They work well. Some folks, who are not computer folks, are intimidated by them (and as a result, almost nobody will cast a write-in vote here). Except for the voter identity problem, the electronic machines reduce the chance of error or fraud. To count the votes, you press a button in the back of the machine, and a tape is printed with the complete counts for that machine. The only votes tallied by hand are the absentee ballots. The count is finished 10 minutes after the polls close. Most polling places post the printed tapes at the door, so it gets harder to introduce fraud, as almost anyone can check the results. As long as those machines are audited somehow, it would be pretty hard to steal an election through fraud here. Why did Montco go for the expensive electronic machines? I don't know! Philly needs them more; that's where all the fraud is. What if there's a "Florida" situation in Pennsylvania? All the counties have different voting methods. It'd be a mess.

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