Nicole Belle, writing at Crooks and Liars, points to this fantastic rundown of the Florida and North Carolina eVoting problems that led to the seating of two Congresspeople who lost their elections.
We now have two members of Congress seated as a result of elections decided by less than 400 votes. A simple analysis of current and historical data for expected undervotes shows that the double digit undervote rates in each candidate’s stronghold resulted in lost votes; votes that would have lead to a victory by either of the now designated losing candidates. The first shall be last, once again.
I'll say it again - electronic voting is the story of the century so far. It's already brought us to where exactly we are today thanks to the stolen election in 2000, brought to us by the good people of ChoicePoint and the State of Florida. I'm afraid to consider what it's going to bring us in the coming years. All I know for sure is that every day we are silent and refuse to demand a voter-verified paper ballot, acheiving the goal of free and fair elections becomes more distant.
Lowell Finley, election voting specialist and (former?) head of Voter Action, was just named as technology advisor to the California administrator of elections. Since he has been a tireless advocate for reform in electronic voting, the is almost the best news folks concerned about electronic voting have had for many years.
Posted by: afc | January 17, 2007 at 12:30 PM