Saturday, March 03, 2007

STUDY FINDS UNDER-VOTE DROPS WHEN ELECTRONIC MACHINES ARE AVOIDED


BRAD BLOG - Details now out from New Mexico reveal that under-vote rates
dropped precipitously in both Native American and Hispanic areas after
the state moved from direct recording electronic touch-screen voting
systems in 2004 to paper-based optical-scan systems in 2006. In Native
American areas, under-vote rates plummeted some 85%. In Hispanic
communities, the rate dropped by 6% according to the precinct data. . .

New Mexico banned the use of DREs across the state after their
disastrous experience with Sequoia touch-screen voting machines during
the 2004 Presidential Election. They now require a paper ballot for
every vote cast statewide. As he signed the bill which banned DREs into
law in early 2006, New Mexico's Gov. Bill Richardson wrote a letter to
Election Officials in all 50 states, warning that while "some believe
that computer touch screen machines are the future of electoral systems.
. . the technology simply fails to pass the test of reliability."

"One person, one vote is in jeopardy if we do not act boldly and
immediately," Richardson implored, while decrying the failures of DREs
in his state and supporting paper ballots. "When a vote is cast, a vote
should be counted," he wrote.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4193

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