Florida shuns paper backup of computer ballots

BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ

mrvasquez@herald.com

TALLAHASSEE - It is ''extremely unlikely'' that Florida voters in November will be able to check their machine-vote ballots against a paper printout before leaving the polls, the head of the state's election process told the Legislature on Wednesday.

But the official, Secretary of State Glenda Hood, insisted that voters have every reason to remain confident in electronic voting machines, despite rising worries across the nation that such machines are susceptible to computer hackers who could possibly alter the outcome of an election.

''Florida is no longer haunted by those ghosts of 2000,'' Hood said, referring to the state's infamous chad-filled recount. ``We have every confidence that the machines we have certified are secure against tampering.''

TOUCH-SCREEN MAKER

Hood's comments to the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee were followed by a presentation by one of the private companies supplying touch-screen computers to Florida, Sequoia Voting Systems.

The company brought along a prototype of a paper printout machine it is designing to be added to the touch-screen computers. Sequoia chief Tracey Graham said her company has never had its security breached, but was nonetheless designing the printout machine to address the wants of its customers.

The machine would not be ready in time for Florida's November election, Graham said. Hood later told The Herald that no touch-screen company has yet obtained the necessary U.S. government approval for its system to be used in an election.

Still, Graham said the current Sequoia machines used in Florida could provide a paper printout of individual votes after the election is over, which would not be seen by voters but could potentially be used in a recount.

''You have the ability to recount the vote?'' asked Sen. Larcenia Bullard, a Miami Democrat. Relieved, she turned to another senator and asked, ``What's the problem?''

Critics of touch-screen voting say the machines, in their current incarnation, remain less than perfect. University of Iowa Associate Professor Douglas Jones, former chairman of the Iowa Board of Examiners for Voting Machines and Electronic Voting Systems, told The Herald in a phone interview Wednesday that touch-screen machines destroy all proof of original voter intent.

'HEARSAY' RESULTS

''The best you can view them as is hearsay,'' Jones said. ``The machine says what the vote was.''

Still, Jones advised against a hasty switch-over to untested printout technology for the November election, saying that such a change should be more of a long-term goal.