Electronic Voting Machines – back in 2004, many people challenged their reliability, saying they could easily be tampered with, and that this would put the results of the election into question. Despite such concerns, many electronic voting machines were used in the 2004 election. Since they left no paper trail with them, there is no way for us to know how accurate they were. After the election, there were rumors and stories of tampering of machines by people from both major political parties. Yet, nothing says scandal more than having the maker of one such electronic-machine say they plan to help one party win the election, except, maybe, if you own the voting machines used in an election which you are yourself running in.
Now many states are once again looking into electronic voting machines. Are they reliable? Are they tamper proof? The answer, from states as diverse as Florida and California, is, without any surprise, no.
I do not think electronic voting machines are safe. While there is no fool-proof way to conduct an election, I think the combination of a paper trail with electronic voting machines would be the best solution. The voter should see a piece of paper stamped with their choice, and watch it go securely into a sealed box which is only opened at the end of the election, and used to confirm the electronic results. Unless something like this is established, I don’t think electronic voting machines should be used. What do you think?
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