A Winning Issue

Crooks & Liars points to this on Dianne Feinstein's website:

"A draft report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology made public today reaffirms my belief that there are serious questions about the security and reliability of paperless electronic voting machines. It further demonstrates the importance of moving forward with new legislation to require that there be an independent paper record of every ballot.

I plan to introduce that legislation at the beginning of the new Congress and hold hearings soon after, with the intent of moving the bill to the Senate floor as soon as possible. As we've seen in Sarasota, Florida, where officials have been unable to account for about 18,000 undervotes in the Congressional election, it is crucial that there be an independent record that can be reviewed by election officials.

One-third of voters cast their ballots in the midterm election using new electronic voting machines, and problems arose, not only in Florida, but in various jurisdictions across the country. We must do everything we can to restore confidence in the outcomes of elections by helping to ensure that every vote cast by an American citizen is recorded accurately and that every eligible voter can, in fact, cast a ballot."

I see no reason for anybody to vote against a law requiring a hard copy of every voter's ballot. The actual voter doesn't even need to handle the paper. A cash register type receipt could simply print the selections and display them under a glass window so that the voter could see a concrete record of the votes she or he cast. Diebold already makes ATM machines with a paper receipt feature. There's no reason that something as valuable as votes can't have the same protection.

I guess it's those 'San Francisco Values' that make Sen. Feinstein want to ensure everybody's vote gets counted. What a whack-job...

Dianne Feinstein Electronic Voting Paper Trail