Quick Study: Voting Machines (page 3 of 4)

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The Time Line

1790s-1830s: Voice vote
Pros -- Voters are sworn in and announce their choice to the clerk, who records it in a poll book next to their names. No ballot box, so it can't be stuffed.
Cons -- No privacy.

1830s-1880s: Paper ballot
Pros -- "Transparent"-easy to understand and recount, and can be made private. The ultimate paper trail.
Cons -- Lost ballots, ballot box stuffing.

1890s: Mechanical lever machine
Pros -- Prevents "overvotes" (voting for more than one candidate for the same race). Machine-counted results available immediately, eliminating the need for hand-counting.
Cons -- No paper trail. Votes "disappear" the minute the lever is pulled.

1960s: Punch Cards
Pros -- Easily stored ballots provide paper trail for recounts.
Cons -- Overvotes, undervotes (skipping races), voter error. "Hanging chads." Bad design (the "butterfly ballot" in the 2000 Presidential race).

1980s: Optical scanners
Pros -- Voters mark ballot, which is then read by optical scanner. Creates paper trail plus electronic record. Vote is immediately visible to voter, and hand recounts can be done with actual ballots. Faster for voters than touch screens.
Cons -- Paper ballots difficult to transport, store. Print quality and design vary, making some ballots hard to decipher.

2000s:
DREs, no paper trail
Pros -- Impossible to overvote, hard to undervote. Shorter lines, faster count. Multiple electronic records of each vote.

Cons -- Machines crash, lose or "flip" votes. No paper trail creates possibility of fraud. Tampering almost impossible to detect. Precincts dependent on manufacturers to maintain machines. And voters don't seem to trust them.

DREs, paper trail
Pros -- Voters can check final vote before casting. Machine prints tape of all votes.
Cons -- Same as at left, plus printer jams. Hacker can plant virus in machine before it's used, rigging results. Or original software can have bugs. Paper trail is a mile long.

Voting over the Internet (VOI)
Pros -- Web-based registration and voting-still being developed-is a boon for absentee voters, who otherwise mail in their ballots. Paper copies of digital votes would provide paper trail.
Cons -- Will voters ever trust ballots cast in cyberspace?
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If it ain't broke---why is it so important to fix it? You enter the voting place. Your voter ID is checked. Then, instead of using a confusing machine and you just keep hitting anything that will let the curtain open and let you out and you don't know if you voted or for whom--- What if the ID checker just handed you a little card or object? You drop it into the slot on top of the box with your candidates name on it. Then, a counting machine can count the number of objects in each box.

By HillbillyBill, on 08/17/2008
To the extent that one issue may be speed --everybody would like to hear the outcome of each election before they go to bed on election night-- I for one would not mind waiting a bit. If an accurate, tamper-proof vote-tallying sustem that the public would have confidence in, somehow required a few days to be completed, I would be willing to wait a few days to learn the outcome.

By MyNotion, on 05/21/2008
I just want my vote to count! I could care less if its computerized or if its on paper.

By bbcookie, on 05/21/2008
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Related Links
  • In Their Own Words
  • To gauge how today's youth will shape our upcoming election, Reader's Digest commissioned a poll that posed a broad range of questions about the political and personal views of young adults between the ages of 19 and 29.
  • About Our Survey
  • Find out more about how we conducted our poll of young voters in the 2008 election.

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