The NY Times' Adam Cohen, who was way out in front of his colleagues in writing about the dangers of electronic voting machines, wrote a long column about the issue yesterday. He sums up the problem and the accomplishments of the amazing, genuine grassroots movement around the issue.
Here are a few excerpts. (The full piece is Talking Points, published on 1/10/2007, available through Times Select, sub. required):
There is a clear answer to the problems with electronic voting: a voter-verified paper trail. That is, every time a voter casts a ballot electronically, he or she should receive a paper record that can be reviewed for accuracy. Those records should remain with the voting machine and become the official record of the vote - so if there is a conflict between the tally on the machine and the totals obtained by adding up the paper ballots, the paper-ballot tallies are the ones that are used to decide the election.
Major national organizations, ranging from Common Cause and the American Civil Liberties Union to MoveOn.org, have played an important role in mobilizing their members and attracting attention to the issue. ... The most remarkable part of the movement, though, has been the grass-roots organizations that have sprung up around the country to demand better voting technology. It's amazing how far we have come in a little more than two years. This is one reform movement that is leaving its mark.
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