Reply #13: Many levers have no paper Einsteinia. Poll workers write down the totals. [View All]

[Bill Bored]

It would require thousands of those pencils to rig an election. And if they don't leave a trace, how come "everyone knew" about them?

Let's see what kind of luck Debra Bowen, whom I admire greatly, has with a 1% audit and toilet paper VVPATs in the great state of CA.

Right now there is NO e-voting system that is safe enough to use in an election without EXTREME precautions being taken by poll workers, elections officials and voters, none of which seems to be happening. Logic and Accuracy tests, as performed, are often a joke and there isn't enough auditing going on after the election. Until these issues have been resolved, none of these systems should be allowed to be used in an election. Just like the NY Regs say:

Section 6209.11 Temporary Provision

Notwithstanding any other regulation, no voting machine certified after May 1, 2006 may be used in any election until the State Board adopts regulations for routine maintenance and testing, voting system operations procedures, and central count procedures.

Well good luck with that because no one else has come up with anything that really works and that's actually being implemented!

I know some will be defensive about this and they have made great strides. But frankly I think it's all still a big experiment:

See how many errors can be detected on computer hardware, 9.2% of which is allowed to fail every 15 hrs.

See how many votes can be switched without detection using bogus L&A tests, spotty post-election audits and unaudited ballot definition programming.

See how many voters actually bother to verify their VVPATs.

No thanks. I'll risk the pencil trick any day.