Encourage this Newsweek Writer (e-voting w/out papertrails)

Steven Levy has a column in this week's issue raising many important points about e-voting without paper-trails...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6595385/site/newsweek/print/1/displaymode/1098/

A few key paragraphs:

Almost a month after the presidential election, I'm still getting missives from people who insist that things don't smell right. They draw on a litany of irregularities that are well-circulated in the blogosphere, the Blue States and maybe even subterranean corners of the Red nation...

More below the fold...

It would be easy to dismiss this bunch as a society of paranoids. Indeed, their complaints seem beyond the pale when key e-voting critics claim that despite some problems, there's no evidence that the outcome was affected. Anyway, at this point, even pictures of Karl Rove personally hacking Diebold machines wouldn't budge the incumbent from the White House. Is it time for these folks to shut up already?>

To the contrary, their curmudgeonry serves an important purpose. The nature of the ATM-style voting terminals used by a third of the country in 2004--and set to increase over the next few cycles--doesn't merely invite controversy. It makes doubt a permanent part of the process.

Ok, I personally think evidence of "Karl Rove in the dining room with the modem" might actually be more consequential than he thinks, but whatever, his point is a good one, that this issue is not about overturning the results of the Nov 2 election, but ensuring voter confidence going forward.

He continues...

You would think that some means of verifiability (like a paper printout that can be saved and used in a recount) would be a minimal requirement. Yet legislation that would have mandated such protections in 2004 was bottled up in Congress.

Snip

I emailed him and thanked him for raising these important points and encouraged him to go further with the story about legislation being thwarted in congress.  Were the Democrats responsible for scuttling the bills?  No.  Why do the Republicans oppose papertrails?  What's their argument?  At every opportuniy, we need to force the Republicans to defend their indefensible stance on this.

He replied to me that he has highlighted the partisan divide on this issue in a previous piece.

He finishes with a nice close...

After the 2000 debacle, one might have expected that our leaders would move mountains to make the next election an exemplary one. The fact that we cannot convince the doubters proves otherwise. Don't call them paranoid, but recognize their passion for fairly run, accurately tabulated elections. If only their zeal were more contagious.

Send him some love, y'all...

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