black…MYstory

I tend to believe that being a voter in Florida is like being caught in a vicious circle. In 2000, political game-playing and hanging chads cost Gore an election and created the call for more reliable and tamper-proof voting methods. That brought us the electronic voting machine. Despite there being more reliable implementations of this technology, states across the U.S. went with voting systems that inspired more fear and, ultimately, undermined elections all across the country due to glitches, miscounts and possible vote-rigging.

In the nearly 7 years since this mess, Florida has come almost full circle and tossing almost all touch-screen voting in time for the 2008 elections. Only the disabled will be using touch-screen machines until 2012 (I presume this will provide Florida time to work out a reasonable alternative for this population of Floridians). What this means is a return to having a verifiable paper trail. Obviously, paper balloting is not perfect but, is far less suspect than many of the electronic voting systems in place today.

What I hope this means is that other states will follow and we can get back to elections where we can actually perform recounts. Like I’ve said before, I am not against the idea of electronic voting, I am against how it’s currently implemented. I would suggest that voting machine makers take note and provide voters with an option that is more reliable and transparent.

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