Voting expert thinks electronic voting is 'out of control'

CATHERINE WILSON

Associated Press   19 October 2004

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A voting expert testifying for the state agreed Tuesday with an attorney for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler that the nation's system of electronic voting is "out of control."

The testimony came on the second day of trial in a lawsuit by the Boca Raton Democrat, who wants to force the state to create a paper trail for touch-screen voting machines when recounts are needed in tight races.

Michael Shamos, a computer scientist at Carnegie-Mellon University, told a congressional committee in July that machine makers lack industry standards, testing is inadequate and no compulsory procedures exist for fixing problems.

"The system is out of control just about, isn't it?" Jeff Liggio, Wexler's attorney, asked on cross-examination.

"Yes," Shamos responded in court.

In Congress, he said electronic voting processes "are much more out of control that anyone is willing to admit."

But he stressed Tuesday that he does not support moves by some states to require a paper trail visible to voters using touch-screen machines. Liggio noted Illinois, Maine and Vermont are requiring paper trails, and that Wexler wants printouts in Florida.

"See, when something gets started, it's difficult to stop," said Shamos.

Shamos and another witness, Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning, generally opposed changing procedures before the Nov. 2 presidential election.

"When you start introducing a change in procedure or technology at such a late date, it has a tendency to cause havoc and chaos," said Browning, Pasco's election chief for 24 years.

Wexler is seeking an injunction to impose changes for manual recounts mandated by state law in races with less than a half of a percentage point margin. But he insists manual recounts are impossible with touch-screens because of the lack of paper records.

Secretary of State Glenda Hood issued a new rule Friday for manual touch-screen recounts to replace one struck down by a state judge in August.

One option proposed by Wexler would offer paper ballots as an alternative to touch-screen voting, but both Shamos and Browning opposed that. Shamos worried about reverting to a more fraud-prone system, and Browning saw a headache printing enough paper ballots and counting them.

An interim Election Day fix supported by Shamos would require precinct workers to occasionally check the number of votes recorded on machines against the number of voter check-ins as a real-time way of verifying the machines are recording votes.

The judge's decision will cover more than half of the statewide vote covering the 15 Florida counties with touch-screen machines. But 28 states use more than 1 million touch-screen machines.

Shamos told U.S. District Judge James Cohn that he would prefer legislative changes rather than court intervention.

Testimony was expected to end Wednesday after the judge hears from Theresa LePore, Palm Beach County's outgoing election chief, and Ion Sancho, who holds the same post in Leon County in Tallahassee.