Paper Ballots, Hand Counted, are the "Gold Standard" Around the World

[Wilms]

Software and Voting

by Robert J. Fleischer

This talk was given to a gathering of election officials in Ashfield, Massachusetts.

snip

Paper ballots, hand counted, are the "gold standard" around the world, and guidelines are published that make for reliable results even in those parts of the world where corruption is the norm. Paper ballot systems, especially ones that are hand counted, provide not only the fewest opportunities for tampering but are the most accurate as well. They are also the most open to public scrutiny, and they are the only systems that can be thoroughly audited.

snip

http://home.tiac.net/~rjf/software-and-voting-ashfield-17jan06.html

[Eric J in MN]

1. Why have a democracy when instead we can give billions

to voting machine companies?

[kath]

2. Yes, how can big corporations make a huge profit off of paper ballots?

The welfare of corporations trumps all else in the good ol' US of A, don'cha know?

[Kurovski]

11. And how can corporations be sure their toadies are elected

if they can't control the counting of the votes?

Those poor little corporations, I should be nicer to them. They're just free market entrepreneurs trying to "put food on their family", as king George likes to say.

[mod mom]

10. Who in return turn around + donate heavily to the GOP. It's a racket @

tax payers expense in both the loss of democracy and tax revenue that could go toward we the people!

[stellanoir]

3. I agree whole heartedly but "Houston we have a problem>"

Our legislators are either disempowered or deny there is even a problem.

Drives me nuts.

All that we've lost in such a relativedly short amount of time. It's mind bogglng really.

[pnwmom]

4. But you should have heard the Republicans squawk in WA state, when

we were handcounting here! They kept saying how much more accurate a machine count is. I give Sam Reed, the Republican in charge of the election, full credit for doing his job with integrity, despite the enormous pressure he was under from his party.

That's what we're up against though, if we try to change the system. The Republicans like it just the way it is.

[Kip Humphrey]

6. The Republicans like it just the way it is. - Of course.. They control it!

I recall long days of argument here on DU: Paper vs. Machines. Now, its seems obvious to all: Hand-counted paper ballots are our only salvation. Only one problem: How do we get there from here???

[applegrove]

5. You should separate out the Presidential election from all other votes.

Then hand counted ballots would take 5 people per poll - roughly 20 minutes to count. How we do it in canada. Then we use something called a "telephone" to call in the results (and official does it). And they are "added up". And results are then published according to when the polls close and if the press blackout is lifted in each time zone.

Twenty minutes. Paper. Lots and lots of paper. Cardboard boxes. That is it. That is all.

[Wilms]

7. Gee. A telephone?

What's that?

Don't you need a computer with hackable software to transmit preliminary tallies from the polling places?

[applegrove]

8. One telephone call for each voting district. And meanwhile..each

and every party representative calls in the same results to their party headquarters. Verifyable and triple reporting of the same results. If there is an issue.. bingo the boxes are counted again.. another 20 minutes has passed...

[dipsydoodle]

9. Too right.

Recently when I voted at local elections here in the UK I mentioned "your" machines to the girls checking off the name and addresses against the electoral register. They looked at me in blank amazement when I crowed about our paper ballots for all elections.

[autorank]

12. Wilms, yours is "the Gold Standard" definition of the GOLD STANDARD FYI--

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=430368&mesg_id=430368

see msg#8;)