Activists Sue to Ban Voting Touch Screens

Monday 22 December 2008

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by: United Press International

Pennsylvania activists are pressing to ban touch-screen voting machines. (Photo: Alejandra Laviada / The New York Times)

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - Activists in Pennsylvania say they're pressing ahead with a lawsuit to ban touch-screen voting machines in the state's 67 counties.

The suit alleges the machines are vulnerable to computer hackers, don't leave a paper trail to verify votes are accurately recorded and don't always work properly, said the League of Women Voters.

Joining the league in the suit are the NAACP, Public Interest Law Firm of Philadelphia and incoming state Treasurer Rob McCord of Bucks County, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Monday.

The state Supreme Court last week gave the plaintiffs the OK to proceed with the suit against the machines, which already are being used in 50 of the state's counties, the Post-Gazette said.

Commonwealth Secretary Pedro Cortes, who approved the use of the machines, has said they work fine and the criticism is unfounded.

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Comments

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Now why would Pedro Cortés,

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 11:35 — Scott Griffith (not verified)

Now why would Pedro Cortés, appointed by a Democratic governor, claim that his electronic voting machinery works 'fine' and criticism of it has no basis in fact? He can't be that ignorant of what's going on elsewhere, such as in Ohio and California. If we follow the HAVA money does that help understand Cortés' motives? I think we should be told.

The only thing that was ever

Wed, 12/24/2008 - 11:08 — Anonymous (not verified)

The only thing that was ever wrong with the old punchcard system we had in my state was that it was too accurate, in my opinion. When HAVA was passed and the digital voting machines came here, a group of concerned citizens who were also computer experts began dogging the process diligently, warning again and again that the systems were vulnerable to fraud. Our local election authorities were being pressured to buy the equipment and were being romanced by the companies who sold it. The one in charge became super-defensive, mostly because the spotlight was on her all of a sudden and she was really just a dull bureaucrat who wasn't qualified to make the decision intellectually -- that became obvious. Also it became obvious that her ego came into play because she was put into the spotlight, and that made her irrational. She decided to fight the concerned citizens group and be a contrarian. I digressed, but only because I wanted to make a side point that politics and personalities also come into play with these stupid machines... further complicating things. Anyway long story short, the first election we had with them was FUBAR'ed, and subsequent ones as well. The computer guys were right. I believe that the powers that be wanted this system in place precisely because it is not as accurate and tamper-proof as the old systems.