The Sudden 180
For the last several election cycles, Democrats have been have been pushing Congress for a reform of the 2002 election law which would require electronic voting machines to have paper trails. Somehow, those proposals never quite made it into law in the Republican led Congress. Now, however, Republicans are suddenly very interested in the concept of fair and transparent elections. One such Republican is even leading the fight from (of all places) Florida. From today's NY Times:
Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans on Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of Florida’s counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election.
Voting experts said Florida’s move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected to pass this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic touch-screen machines. If as expected the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nation’s biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting, which was widely embraced after the 2000 recount as a state-of-the-art means of restoring confidence that every vote would count.
I'm sure the embarrassing scenes in Ohio and Maryland and the law suits pending in Florida finally got the GOP's attention on a system in such disarray that many Americans don't think it worth bothering to vote because the chances of their votes actually being counted seemed remote. I'm even more sure that the devastating loss of Congressional power in the 2006 elections woke the Republicans to the need for fair and open elections if they are ever to resume power.
Ultimately, the reasons for finally addressing a glaring need are less important than actually addressing that need. Neither party should fear a transparent election process and both parties should embrace the changes to ensure that transparency.
Diebold had its chance, and it blew it.
Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans on Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of Florida’s counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election.
Voting experts said Florida’s move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected to pass this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic touch-screen machines. If as expected the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nation’s biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting, which was widely embraced after the 2000 recount as a state-of-the-art means of restoring confidence that every vote would count.
I'm sure the embarrassing scenes in Ohio and Maryland and the law suits pending in Florida finally got the GOP's attention on a system in such disarray that many Americans don't think it worth bothering to vote because the chances of their votes actually being counted seemed remote. I'm even more sure that the devastating loss of Congressional power in the 2006 elections woke the Republicans to the need for fair and open elections if they are ever to resume power.
Ultimately, the reasons for finally addressing a glaring need are less important than actually addressing that need. Neither party should fear a transparent election process and both parties should embrace the changes to ensure that transparency.
Diebold had its chance, and it blew it.
Labels: Voting Machines
posted by Diane at 9:29 AM
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