The Voting Machine Problem
October 31st, 2006
A lot of chatter is going on all over about voting machines and how they can cause votes to be cast incorrectly through failure or even tampering. Many suggest that having a receipt would fix the problem, as if the printing your votes on paper are automatically going to be accurate. The computer can just as easily change your vote after printing your receipt. This is not something which can be fixed overnight, if ever.
I spoke with someone who did work on a voting application once. He explained that there are lots of issues when building a voting system. A big problem is the fact that you cannot give the voter something they can use as proof of their vote. If a voter could prove their vote, it would be very easy to pay many voters to vote for your candidate and reimburse them based on that proof. That type of abuse complicates the whole system.
It appears all that you can do is ensure that the system is monitored, audited and that it is nearly impossible to tamper with the voting machines, whether they are computerized or mechanical.
