Touch-Screen Machines Stir Election Anxiety in Md.

[cal04]

Touch-screen polling machines, which will be used statewide in Maryland when voters go to the polls for the Sept. 12 primary, were intended to calm fears of election flimflam raised in the wake of the infamous 2000 presidential balloting in Florida.

But the new machines themselves have become a politically charged topic in Maryland. Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who agreed to purchase them three years ago, now questions whether they can provide fair and accurate elections, given their vulnerability to computer hackers and their lack of a paper trail to document votes.

"There's a lot to be concerned about here," Ehrlich said recently.

Democrats, in turn, accuse the governor and the Republican Party of trying to dampen voter turnout through scare tactics. "It's highly unfortunate that Bob Ehrlich has chosen to alarm people about the integrity of the voting process," said Del. Peter Franchot (D-Montgomery), a candidate for state comptroller.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081801064.html

[BeFree]

1. Unbelievable

Some dumbass democrat spews the stupid line that having checks and balances on the vote counting machinery is somehow discouraging to GOTV. Ridiculous!

And there you have a republican trying to do the right thing. What a crazy mixed up world HAVA has wrought.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. This is the danger of clueless idiots who think EVERYTHING

is about politics.