Wednesday, November 08, 2006

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart on Electronic Voting Machines


The Daily Show's Jon Stewart makes light of the controversies and uncertainties of the Diebold electronic voting machines. It's a nice video to watch and laugh at the day after elections. I know that my own experience yesterday with the Diebold machines left me feeling unsatisfied with the whole electronic voting process. It was easy enough to use but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had no clue to if my vote was really going to be counted or if it was going to be counted the way I intended. No paperwork trail (is there even really an electronic trail?) and the only thing I have to prove I did my duty was the silly "I'm a Georgia Voter" peach graphic sticker I got as I handed over my little electronic key to the senior citizen volunteer at the exit.
Interesting, though, is that I had to go through a screening process to even get to the voting machine that included filling out a form (in addition to my voter registration card) and having someone look me up on a tiny computer screen. I couldn't see the screen and it was intentionally kept from my view. The lady then entered some data and stuck the electronic key into a slot on the computer and waited while it allegedly activated the key. What the hell data did she write to that key?!? Shouldn't we be told what information is put on those keys and what information the "screener" was looking at on that tiny secretive screen? And, where does that information go once it's been used? I surrendered my "key" at the exit after I was told by the Diebold that my vote had been submitted. The poll volunteer just tossed it into a pile of other "used" cards that apparently was recycled and reactivated for future voters.
Okay, I am going on about this when I obviously need to do more personal research on how the machines and the processing of the vote data gathering works. If I find anything of interest I will share it here.
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