Machine Politics in Orange

Posted on March 2, 2004 in Campaign 2004 The Orange

It’s politics Tuesday!

They sneaked in electronic voting in Orange County. When we went to the polls, the luminescent screens in their blue boxes were there. The poll workers immediately started lecturing the mob that came in with us about being sure that we pressed the red button and wait until we saw the American Flag before we walked away.

“What about a paper printout?” I asked.

“Oh she’ll give you a paper printout,” said one of the women, pointing to a clerk sitting in front of a machine that looked like a cash register receipt printer.

It was perfectly fine for Orange County to insist on my bringing along my uncoded sample ballot and to have me sign and write my address in the big book. This kind of ancient technology was fine. But there was no way, except on the computer screen before I pressed the red button, to verify at the site that my vote had been registered correctly.

“Just call this number and enter this code.” The code was a four digit number less than two thousand. Had turnout in Orange County been that bad today?

I walked over, mumbling to myself about the lax security and lack of a paper trail. As any computer geek knows, all it takes is a couple of lines of code to throw an election.

The selector had a LCD screen, a few buttons, a flywheel for selecting your candidate or position, and, of course, the Big Red Button that read Cast Vote.

I followed instructions, entered my choices, and waved to the flag after I pressed the red button. Anyone could have walked up behind me and seen how I voted. How’s that for privacy?

As I finished, some glamorous country club set women ambled in. “Oh look! They have computers! That will make it so easy.”

“Easier to stuff the ballot box,” I said.

“What did he say?” said one of the women.

“He said that it would be easier to stuff the ballot box,” replied the other in her best look-at-the-cute-but-grumpy-man-with-a-beard voice. They laughed. The computer couldn’t possibly be fixed now could it?

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John Lettiere sent me a URL-less article by Norwich University professor M.E. Kabay in which this computer science professional and security expert found himself in an argument with a colleague (presumably one of the adoring liberal arts faculty who think that software engineering is impregnable to manipulation). The point of contention? According to Kabay:

I suggested having electronic voting systems produce a paper ballot to be verified by the voter and then dropped into a secured ballot box in case there was a recall.

I agree. It’s the best defense against machine politics.