Problem

[Travis Roy]

I should have been more specific and said audit the voting system for 
fraud/fixing.

I realize the problems in Florida, and the need for something better. 
But as I pointed out in my email, how can you trust what's out there now 
any more/less then anything new coming out.

bscott at ntisys.com wrote:

> On Wed, 21 Apr 2004, at 8:13am, travis at scootz.net wrote:
> 
>>I always wondered about this sudden desire to audit the voting system.
> 
> 
>   The issue with the close electoral vote for the US President in Dade
> County in Florida during 2000 woke up the unthinking masses to the fact that
> the the mechanics of the voting process are (like all human endeavors)
> imperfect.
> 
>   A statistician will tell you that the vote in question was so close as to
> be within the margin for error of *any* polling system.  That effectively
> makes it a tie.  Of course, many people were not willing to accept the
> facts, and played arbitrary legal games instead.  Denial is a common theme
> in human history.
> 
>   Alas, many still have such an unthinking faith in technology that they
> believe throwing more of it at the problem will make it go away.
> 
>   As you say, I am in favor of electronic voting systems, but only because I
> feel such a system is likely to be more efficient.  It's purely an
> engineering decision.  I hold no illusions that an electronic voting system
> would have changed the situation in the 2000 election one bit.
>