EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Will Haible
Organization : | Self
Post Date : | 9/29/2005
General Comments
Comment : | I believe, and insist the Voting Commission (sic) require, that there must be a basic minimum requirement and provisions for a paper record of ALL voting, regardless of other methods of vote casting and tabulation, eg. electronic, so that two fundamental principles of voting can be maintained: - A voter has a record that he voted, and how he voted, so his record can assist in a recount if necessary. - There is a record of votes to assist in an investigation of voter fraud should that be conducted. I believe this is necessary because, while new electronic voting methods can be accurate and cost efficient in recording and tabulating vote results, these methods are still subject to error, they can be manipulated in or outside the polling place, and most importantly, the electronic records are much more difficult to verify if they have been manipulated. There is, most definitely, solid evidence that electronic voting methods can and have been manipulated. The problems of voter fraud by electronic methods may be not much worse than other voter fraud problems in the past, but they seem much more difficult to unravel, to pre- vent against, and to resolve than past methods with paper ballots. I believe the risk of voting fraud, as seen with present electronic voting methods and actual experience, is now greater than with older simpler voting methods. We've operated for a long time with paper records that could be recounted, verified, and studied for many useful purposes, including most importantly evidence of voter fraud. It is now imperative that we retain paper records of voting. So that we can ensure accuracy of voting while we proceed with electronic methods that obviously have many more years to mature so that voting can be accurate, counted timely, and records available for recounting and review when needed. Sincerely, Will Haible Berleley California