| > While the paper I handled is stored in the machine, I am sure that the results are transmitted to the next link in the chain through some computer system I've worked with the New York City Board of Elections [1]. We have what I consider to be best in class: electronically-scanned paper ballots. When a voter walks in, their name is checked against the rolls and the stub number on the blank ballot they're given is recorded. The voter marks the ballot in confidence and then inserts it, themselves, into an optical scanner. The scanner increments a "public count" by one and drops the ballot into a locked box. At the end of the day, the public count is compared to the count at the beginning of the day. (These counts are publicly recorded for each machine and do not increment down over the life of the machine.) The aggregate votes to each candidate are then printed to a tape and posted publicly. The machine also uploads these data to a USB drive, which is taken to a computer at the poll site for electronic transmission to the Board. Before transmission, anyone may compare those numbers to the tape or pubic count. (The scanner workers have to certify the electronic transmission before it's sent.) The NYPD then collects the machines, paper ballots and tapes. Throughout the day, anyone may see the public count at each scanner. At the end of the day, anyone may review the publicly-posted tapes. Stub numbers for the paper ballots issued and public counts recorded are reconciled, with multiple poll workers certifying the reconciliation. It's a messy system, but it's robust. The public count means you'd have to compromise everybody at a poll site to add or destroy ballots. (Or, you'd have to predict who won't vote and manually commit fraud.) To tamper with the votes, you'd have to compromise machines before they print their tapes. You'd then have to hope the Board's random audits don't attempt to reconcile the paper ballots with the compromised tapes. [1] http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/html/home/home.shtml |