How would you feel if after all of these presidential campaigns, your vote didn’t count? That’s exactly what happened to some voters in Ohio during this year’s primaries. The security on the system was appalling and ended up dropping votes as they were uploaded to the main server. Some IT professionals believe that the solution to the e-voting problem is open source eVACS or electronic voting and counting systems. This system is already in use in Australia, so I don’t know what we’re waiting for.
Our current system is closed source voting. This means that only a few individuals get the source code and e-voting technology is only developed by a few vendors like the controversial Premier Election Solutions. There is no reason why there should not be a competitive market for voting systems. Competition is the reason why our society is so advanced in the first place. As a result, why not apply it to something as important as voting? The blame for faulty machines mostly gets put on memory devices but “those of us in IT know that if all flash storage were this error-prone, digital cameras and iPods wouldn't exist” (Venezia 1).
The 2000 election showed us that punch cards and levers are outdated. A federal act was passed after the election to provide all counties with new electronic voting systems but it is not doing well. The Open Voting Consortium is pushing a new open source system that would use touch-screens to print out a physical copy. This copy is then scanned and placed in a ballot box. This prevents human counting errors and provides an effective method to double-check fraud.
Technology can only be great when we know how to use it. It should be there to assist us for daily use and annual election use. I feel that people are afraid the elections would be easily fixed with e-voting. It is definitely a lot easier to press a few buttons than dispose of physical paper ballots. On the other hand, computers should guard against fraud, not make it easier. It is incredible that these issues arise after every election and no one is outraged.
I found a comment under the article that I found worth mentioning. The concerned citizen says that the government intentionally is making faulty systems so they can keep fixing elections and make Americans feel like they “have somehow chosen all the horrors and injustices foisted upon them by the government.” Although the claim may be a bit radical, it raises some interesting points. It is odd that the government is so behind in the technology loop. This only furthers my intent of perfecting the voting system.
It is unacceptable for voting systems to fail. It makes a mockery of our country and compromises our right to a fair and balanced election. The only thing we should be worrying about on elections night is if our candidate won or not.
Source: Venezia, Paul. "Open Source: How e-voting should be done." InfoWorld. Oct 2008. Accessed: 27 Oct 2008. <http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/10/27/44FE-e-voting-security_5.html>
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In my opinion, it is ridiculous that we are still having issues with our technology and the ability to accurately keep track of votes during election seasons. We live in a democratic society, which means that our government is determined by the people, through the election of such representatives. With faulty technology, I don’t feel that the current voting system is fair. For this election especially—since it was sought to be the most historical election ever—I believe that it was essential for every vote to count. I agree with George’s statement that the United States government should update their voting systems to match those in other countries. For such an important event, such as a presidential election, there should not be any errors in the counting systems that could affect the final outcome.
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