Electronic Voting Machines in California

I am starting my blogs with this relatively benign issue. Though it happens to be directed at the Secretary of State of California, I think there is equal applicability throughout the USA, and possibly elsewhere in the world where the premise of democratic representation is proffered. It may also give you some insight to some of my background and experience....and, as a result...biases...Cassandra.

Dear Ms. Secretary

I quite defininetly missed the March 30th deadline for commenting on the voting machine issue. I'm not a lobbyist, government official, vendor or any other special interest that would have been on the alert for this study. I am nothing other than an American citizen, resident Californian, and regular voter, who, incidentally tries avidly to keep up on current events. Yet I still missed this March 30th deadline. I suspect that I am not in the minority....by far.

The brouhaha over the various electronic voting machines strikes me as highly disingenuous. Errors rates from paper ballots, lever voting machines, punch cards, and other methods of vote casting are well documented in California and the nation by people and organizations much more into this issue than I am. Groundwork has been laid to, at the very least, suggest that at least two of the amendments to the constitution are being compromised. These methods of voting tend to have their error rates exaggerated on voters who are poor, less educated, mentally compromised, disabled, etc....basically, the disenfranchised. This is above and beyond whatever corruption may occur at the voting area that may be in the effective control of the dominating party in the area. Trying to discern ballot tampering is a difficult task. Most of the delving into voter tampering is, by necessity, manual, labor intensive, and expensive.

Electronic voting, on the other hand, seems to lend itself to computer modeling. Marked differences in specific voting patterns in a demographic area, it would seem, would be easy to flag and investigate. After all, sophisticated computer models are already being used by both parties to gerrymander the voting districts in order to keep the party in power....IN POWER! This is a local, state, and federal pattern of devaluing individual voter's rights.

It appears that electronic voting is being attacked because it may, more certainly, uncover voter tampering and corruption. Not because it is flawed. Computer errors are far ranging and stick out like a sore thumb. In the other methods of voting, it becomes difficult to distinguish voter's errors, counter's errors, and tampering. I've worked as a clerk and as a computer programmer in my career. Believe me, a computer error compared to a clerical error is like an atomic bomb to a pin prick. It is noticed!!!!

Personally, I have been blessed with above average intelligence, but cursed with below average eyesight, with some occasional difficulties in motor skills. As a consequence, I have screwed up punch ballots, mishandled lever machines, and had my difficulties navigating paper ballots. However, with the electronic machines, I have been able to thoroughly review my ballot before casting it. I am confident that my personal error rate with electronic machines is zero. What happens afterward I cannot say. But I am confident, based on years of computing and my observation of redistricting, that tampering, if occurring, could be easily uncovered.