Perhaps you’ve read about the ongoing issues with companies like Diebold and their advances towards electronic election systems. A lot of people were looking for the fix after the debacle in 2000’s Presidential election results from Florida - electronic or otherwise. It was the perfect opportunity for the electronic systems-makers to step in and sell their product.
Why aren’t we hearing more about this? According to a quote in yesterday’s mediachannel.org NewsAlert by Mark Lewellen-Biddle and Danielle Taylor, “50 million Americans will use electronic ballots when they vote for a president on November 2″ (via Election Data Systems) and (with no true count available) many voters in the ten states participating in March 2nd’s “Super Tuesday” primary day could be using electronic voting systems. I, for one, concur with Lewellen-Biddle and Taylor on this - why aren’t we hearing more on the subject in the “mainstream” channels? I’d say it’s a pretty big deal, and gets huge web coverage from the “early adopter” folks - but it affects more than just the techies in the population, doesn’t it? Attention seems to warrant.
Diebold’s site has some good information for those interested in the topic and technology. For more information on the potential dangers of electronic voting systems, check out blackboxvoting.com.
[update] The New York Times picked up this story today, with an article that includes a graphic showing counties that are using electronic voting technology.
[3/1/04] Leonard Witt at Public Journalism Network voices some concerns on the topic, with the title saying it all: “New York Times on E-Voting, I Expected More”, when referring to the Times article I referred to in my last update up above.
