Editorial: District 28 recount crucial e-voting test

Web Posted: 03/24/2004 12:00 AM CST

San Antonio Express-News

For Bexar County voters, the March 9 primaries marked an important step in voting technology. They were the first test of the county's new $8.1 million touch-screen system.

Election-day complaints centered on a handful of election judges, delays in opening a few polling sites, lack of preparation for some precinct conventions and Bexar County's perennial problem — a slow tabulation of the final vote.

These issues pale in comparison to the disastrous 2002 primaries. Most significantly this past election, the act of voting was easier and faster than ever.

Electronic voting is the wave of the future. As many as 50 million Americans — more than one-third of those expected to vote in November's general election — will cast their votes electronically.

The introduction of electronic voting in other places has not gone as smoothly as Bexar County. Several California counties encountered problems during the March 2 Super Tuesday primaries.

Such technical glitches are to be expected when a new technology is put to wide use for the first time.

However, larger concerns exist about the security and integrity of e-voting systems. Legislation has been introduced in several states and in Congress to require paper trails for vote verification. Grass-roots organizations across the nation, including Bexar County, are advocating similar safeguards.

An important test of the Bexar County system will come with the recount in the 28th Congressional District Democratic primary.

The official canvass shows incumbent U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez defeating Henry Cuellar by 145 votes. That's from 48,581 across the 11-county district, including 13,566 in Bexar.

Elections officials here are confident that the electronic recount will run smoothly. If so, it will serve as an essential verification of the integrity of the e-voting system ahead of November.

But remember, technology is not a bulwark against anomalies such as missing ballot boxes and voters from the hereafter, especially if there happens to be a ghost in the machine.