Florida approves electronic ballots

In other news today, Florida approves an electronic ballot. I guess they got tired of the public lampooning they received last election for discarding thousands of Gore votes due to less-than-exact punches.

In other news today, Florida approves an electronic ballot. I guess they got tired of the public lampooning they received last election for discarding thousands of Gore votes due to less-than-exact punches.

2 thoughts on “Florida approves electronic ballots”

  1. e-ballots

    I’ve done a lot of thinking about e-ballots. At first one thinks, “We have computers, let’s use ’em!”

    With further thought, however, there are a number of troubling technical problems. I hope Florida, and other states have been able to overcome these issues.

    Here are a few of the basic potential problems.

    • What if the power goes out or there is a broken network connection in at a polling place?
    • Can you imagine the uproar from one side or the other if the power goes out at a polling place in a heavily black or hispanic area? Can you imagine the cries of foul play?
    • Does a voter have a chance to cast his/her ballot elsewhere or at another time?
    • What about security? It may seem stupid but its relatively secure to have a little old grey haired lady checking id at a polling place to insure one vote per person.
    • What about technical support? Florida couldn’t provide tech support for punch cards in 2000. Why do they think they will have better luck with computers?

    All of these questions would need answers ahead of time.

    EDIT by matthew: Adjusted formatting for readability.

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