To the Editor:
With less than six months to go to the general election in November,
Bucks County is still without voting machines that have a paper audit to verify votes in the case of a recount. According to the
Coalition for Voting Integrity, out of the total 9,289 precincts in Pennsylvania, 8,487,
including Bucks County, have paperless touch-screen voting machines that give no poof of a voter's actual
entry, offer no real way to do recounts and use secret machine programming.
Sounds to me as if Pennsylvania may
well become the next Florida when it comes to counting election votes. After all, Pennsylvania is being described as a swing state and possibly a very close call in the upcoming election. Before then, we need
to ensure that we have machines that generate a paper trail, namely, when you vote, a printout is generated of your vote (just
like a receipt at an ATM machine) so you can check that it accurately reflects how you voted and then drop it into a box at
the polling station. These receipts can then be hand-counted in the event of problems.
We have Danaher touch-screen machines that are impossible to make accuracy
claims for. They do not produce an independent, auditable paper trail.
I urge the commissioners to immediately reconsider our voting machines
and ensure that we have independent paper trails in November. Also, have renowned computer scientists examine our machines
according to standards set in studies in other states where there have been similar problems, such as California and Ohio. In these states, electronic voting has failed and systems have been labeled
as fatally flawed. Let's ensure that Pennsylvania, and Bucks County in particular,
do not suffer the same fate in November. Let us take steps now to ensure that we have electronic machines that produce an
auditable paper trail. One good place to start would be with optical scanners.
Patrick Summers
Buckingham Township
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/320-05292008-1540876.html
