A while ago, I read a decent article about the problems with electronic voting machines. I encourage any of you who value your vote, and value democracy, to boycott voting machines (especially of the Diebold variety), and to insist upon voting using a paper ballot. Iowa’s fill-in-the-circle ballots are great.

The biggest problem with electronic voting machines is lack of verifiability. If there’s a bug (either naive or malicious) in the software, so that votes are counted incorrectly, how can it be tracked or challenged? How can you recount in the case of a discrepancy?

If there is a paper ballot, a person can look at their ballot and make sure their vote is correct. The actual paper ballots can be examined and counted. A person can verify that the number of votes for Ross Perot equals the number of ballots with him marked. You just plain can’t do that with an electronic voting machine. Yes, the voting machine may print out a receipt of your vote, but that is only its claim of how your vote was recorded. Everyone would have to bring in their slips to recount an election. Many people probably threw them away before they got home, and you’re also counting on people not modifying or forging them. The voter needs to be able to verify, and re-verify, that their vote was received correctly.

Additionally, the Diebold voting machines have numerous documented security problems and fatal design flaws. Anyone with access to the machine can, relatively easily, boot it to an alternative firmware (some of these issues are documented more thoroughly in the links in the article mentioned above). Once done, this is indetectible to a voter walking up to cast their vote.

I encourage you to read more on this subject, and, as the next elections come up in a year, think seriously about how you want your vote to be counted.

Update: Jennifer has corrected me on a point. Evidently the electronic voting machines in use in Iowa let you see the slip, but keep it inside the machine where it is saved for record purposes. This does significantly increase the verifiability of electronic votes. I’m undecided as to what impact it makes on my overall opinion, but it is a point worth significant consideration, and my previous writing should be understood in its light.