Touch-screen voting lacks accountability

OP-ED from the Tomah (WI) Journal

Next week when Tomah citizens head to the polls for the Feb. 17 primary election, they'll do so with the assurance that the system that records their votes is simple, accurate and accountable.?Unfortunately, not every voter in America has that guarantee.

This year marks the first election cycle in which "black-box voting" will be used on a widespread basis. Millions of voters will cast ballots using computerized touch screens. It's a system that invites error and fraud and undermines the integrity of election returns.

The most worrisome aspect of touch- screen voting is that local officials aren't allowed access to the software that's used to calculate votes. As ridiculous as it sounds, the computer software used in elections is considered a trade secret by the vendors. Local officials can't examine the software to verify its accuracy or ensure that a company bureaucrat hasn't put his or her thumb on the election scale.

There's good reason to worry about the creeping privatization of elections. David K. Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University, told the New York Times, "If I were a programmer at one of these companies and I wanted to steal an election, it would be very easy. I could put something in the software that would be impossible for people to detect, and it would change the votes from one party to another. And you could do it so it's not going to show up statistically as an anomaly."

Manufacturers of touch-screen equipment have been deaf, dumb and blind to these concerns. For example, Walden W. O'Dell is the chief executive officer of Diebold, Inc., a touch-screen voting manufacturer that is bidding to have its machines installed in Ohio. O'Dell is also one of President Bush's biggest campaign fund-raisers. He raised $100,000 for Bush's campaign and wrote in a fund-raising letter, "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

Is there any evidence that a touch-screen programmer has ever fixed an election? No. However, the fact remains that public officials in touch-screen jurisdictions can no longer verify the accuracy of election results. Tomah has an election system that is simple, transparent and fair. It's a privilege every voter in the United States should enjoy.