Re: Election supervisor: Printers not needed, Jan. 28.
How nice Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark is to save us money. After all, we would only need a printout of our election choices if someone could jigger the voting machines.
And the only way that could happen would be if someone unscrupulous had access to the software inside the machines and the counter at election headquarters. And we all know that with Florida's election history, such a thing could never happen. Right?
The problems with state trooper intimidation of voters, butterfly ballots and purged voters did not even happen here. We can rest assured that no matter how screwy or surprising an election's results might seem, the results reported are true and accurate. And I need not worry that when I voted back in 2002, the machine at first displayed the wrong result. I probably just pushed the wrong button, backtracked and everything was fine. Right?
We can implicitly trust that those entrusted with our voting machines will always remain loyal, true and faithful to our trust. We've got to because the difference between what the voter votes and what the machine records is just a matter of what the software tells the machines to do . . . or what the person with access to the machines' innards tells the software to do. And besides, all those pesky printers and cards would be too expensive for cash-strapped voters. Right?
A wise man once told me that appearance is everything. What appearance would we get from printed copies of our votes? Would we not get the appearance that the system is all right? After all, there is nothing to hide, is there? Nothing at all to worry about, right?
-- Philipp Michel "Mike" Reichold, Largo
[Last modified February 25, 2004, 01:31:45]
