QUOTE
• 7. Electronic ballots. After Florida's problems with punch-card ballots in the presidential election of 2000, electronic voting systems were supposed to cut down on Election Day snafus.
But as computers were readied for the 2004 election, they brought their own set of headaches.
Some 30% of ballots in 2004 were paperless compared with 12% in 2000. The systems were praised in many areas and found easier to use than old-fashioned ballots. But the Verified Voting Foundation, an advocacy group, found 900 instances of electronic-voting irregularities.
Among the complaints: E-voting machines lost votes in North Carolina and miscounted votes in Ohio — the state that pushed President Bush over the top. In New Orleans, they broke down altogether, the group said.
Another issue: Many electronic-ballot systems don't provide a printed receipt. Election watchers worry the machines would be easy to tamper with, and a lack of any printed record would make fraud harder to spot.
But as computers were readied for the 2004 election, they brought their own set of headaches.
Some 30% of ballots in 2004 were paperless compared with 12% in 2000. The systems were praised in many areas and found easier to use than old-fashioned ballots. But the Verified Voting Foundation, an advocacy group, found 900 instances of electronic-voting irregularities.
Among the complaints: E-voting machines lost votes in North Carolina and miscounted votes in Ohio — the state that pushed President Bush over the top. In New Orleans, they broke down altogether, the group said.
Another issue: Many electronic-ballot systems don't provide a printed receipt. Election watchers worry the machines would be easy to tamper with, and a lack of any printed record would make fraud harder to spot.
