Hmmmm...looks like we're all a bunch of nervous nellys about he potential for fraud in the balloting process. Everything will be OK, just trust the man behind the curtain; he'll deliver (oops) count your state's ballots as they are cast.
Among newer systems being implemented in California and elsewhere are touch-screen computer voting machines. But the computerized balloting that election officials long have touted as the wave of the future is under attack from scientists and computer experts who worry that computerized voting systems are vulnerable to tampering and manipulation that could easily go undetected.
"This could be something that compromises democracy," said David Dill, a Stanford University professor of computer science who researches security issues.
On the other side of the debate are election officials who see the worry as a natural, if exaggerated, reaction to change. They say tampering would require a huge, sophisticated plan and that there are plenty of safeguards to detect and protect against intrusions.
...
Apprehension about computerized voting has simmered for years, arising early on among the Internet fringe that feasts on conspiracy and paranoia. That current of distrust has drifted closer to the mainstream in recent months.
Well, count me as being among that 'internet fringe' until these election-stealing morons implement a verifiable audit trail. Their very unwillingness to do so, and protest about the sanctity of their systems coupled with their lack of real knowledge of the potential for 'on-line' abuse makes them uniquely unqualified to be selling or even suggesting these systems for use.
There's no hurry to bring a bad system on-line, except the perception that "old" is "bad". Perhaps. Except in the case of counting ballots. Or do we want to give up our democracy to rich guys who "guarantee Ohio" for President Bunnypants?
