From the Intelligencer Soapbox

 

March 14, 2008

 

Why Bucks needs new voting system: The vote totals on the county's electronic machines cannot be independently verified.

 

by Madeline Rawley, Guest Columnist

 

The Danaher Voting System presently used in Bucks County is a Direct Recording Electronic system (DRE).  Using this voting system, a voter votes by pressing on a box next to his candidate’s name. That vote is recorded and counted for that candidate by the software programming inside the electronic machine.  However, because there is no voter-marked paper ballot, external and independent of the software programming inside the electronic machine, there is no way for the voter to know whether that vote has registered , been recorded, and will be counted for his candidate.

 

Furthermore, because of this lack of voter-marked paper ballots which show the voters’ intended votes, there is no way to do a meaningful recount, or an independent check or audit of the voters’ intended votes.  The Danaher machine can produce, from the electronic memory inside the machine, electronic ballot images of voters’ ballots, and machine tape totals, but both those electronic ballot images, and the electronic machine tape totals, are produced by the software programming inside the machine.

 

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, commissioned by the Election Assistance Commission, the federal agency in charge of elections, to make recommendations for standards for voting machines, DRE machines, like the Danaher voting machine, do not meet the standard required to have confidence in the correctness of election results .  In order to have confidence in election results, there needs to be independent proof which is not dependent on the software that creates the electronic records in the voting machine. Without proof of the voter’s intended votes, as on a paper ballot that the voter has marked him or herself, there cannot be meaningful recounts or independent checks, or audits, of the election results.

 

Simply:  NO EXTERNAL PAPER RECORD, INDEPENDENT OF THE SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING INSIDE THE DANAHER VOTING MACHINE = NO PROOF OF THE VOTERS’ INTENDED VOTES = NO ABILITY TO DO A MEANINGFUL RECOUNT = NO ABILITY TO CHECK THE ACCURACY OF THE ELECTRONIC ELECTION RESULTS.

 

This November, Bucks County’s election results may decide who is the next President because Pennsylvania’s electoral votes may decide the election.  If the election is close, Bucks County needs a voting system that can do a meaningful recount.  Bucks County Commissioners need to decide to replace the present Danaher voting system with a voter-marked paper ballot /optical scanner system. The Governor of New Mexico replaced their Danaher machines with a voter-marked paper ballot system. Florida is also moving to paper ballots, which other states, like Michigan, Maine, Connecticut , Oklahoma, to name a few, already use.

 

The citizens of Bucks County need to let the County Commissioners know that they want a voter-marked paper ballot system so that they and all our country’s citizens can have faith in our election results in November. They must act now to have the voter-marked system in place for the upcoming crucial election.  Voter-marked paper ballots safeguard that the voice of the voters will be heard.  There is no more sacred tenet in a democracy.  The voters' will, as expressed by their votes, must be accurately counted.

 

 

Madeline Rawley is a retired teacher, who has been researching electronic voting systems for two and a half years.  She has attended state examinations of voting systems and testified at a State Senate Government Committee hearing on this issue. She lives in Doylestown Township.