Here are a couple interesting stories I've run across recently on electronic voting machines: This story in the Baltimore Sun reports that officials in Maryland are having trouble recruiting election judges and attribute the trouble to touch-screen voting systems:
Officials around the region are trying to recruit new election judges. But they're also fighting to retain longtime judges by convincing them that managing a precinct full of computer voting machines won't be too challenging.This story in the SF Chronicle is headlined "More voters to use electronic voting systems, but reforms not enough." It points to a study by Election Data Services "of voting equipment used by election jurisdictions across the United States shows that just over 50 million registered voters are expected to cast ballots on electronic equipment this fall. Another 55 million voters will be using optical scan systems, while 32 million will still be using punch cards." You may also want to take a look at the Election Data Services (a political consulting firm specializing in redistricting, election administration, and the analysis and presentation of census and political data with GIS) main site for additional interesting material.Top election officials say the hardest sell has been to senior citizens such as Ruggles who never warmed to computers. Retirees comprise the most reliable labor pool for elections officials -- some estimate the average election judge age at 70 -- though they aren't the only ones reluctant to embrace the new voting system. "It's scaring the heck out of people," says Barbara Fisher, the election director in Anne Arundel County. "It's a real problem all across the state."
Finally, here is a cautionary opinion piece published in the Kansas City Star, headed "Opponents of change a threat to electronic voting."
[Update] Here is a story from Florida titled "State bans recounts of touch-screen ballots." Access it here from the Sun-Sentinel [link via How Appealing]. The lead:
State elections officials banned any attempt to recount votes cast on touch-screen voting machines Friday, reversing an earlier decision as counties prepare for the presidential primary less than a month away.Posted by Marcia Oddi at February 14, 2004 11:01 AMDuring the recount of January's close legislative election in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the state decided to leave it up to each county whether to print out images of each ballot from the voting machines.
But that led to concern among county officials that candidates could challenge election results and lead to uncertainty if each county handled a recount differently during a major election. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled at the end of the 2000 election that the differing standards used in Florida's highly watched recount violated the Constitution.
Under its new ruling, the state Elections Division concluded that counties are not permitted to print out ballots. State law requires uniform standards and sets none when it comes to counties with touch-screen ballots because there is no way to discern voter intent other than what is registered on the computer, the state concluded.