[LINK] Florida working to fix e-voting

[Jan Whitaker]

NYT - 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/us/01cnd-florida.html?ei=5094&en=cd92668c2046770f&hp=&ex=1170392400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print>

February 1, 2007
Governor Seeks Overhaul of Voting System in Florida
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Gov. Charlie Crist said 
Thursday he wants to spend about $32 million to 
convert all voting machines in Florida to produce paper trails.

''What we're talking about here is Democracy and 
it is precious,'' Crist told a crowd of several 
hundred people at a gathering of the nonpartisan 
Voters Coalition of Palm Beach County.

''You should, when you go vote, be able to have a 
record of it,'' Crist said, calling it ''common sense.''

The proposal will be part of Crist's budget he 
presents to the Legislature on Friday.

Fifteen of Florida's 67 counties use paperless 
touch-screen voting machines. The remaining 
counties use optical scan machines where a voter 
marks a paper ballot with a pencil and it is electronically scanned.

Critics of the paperless machines say voters are 
disenfranchised because there is no record for a 
manual recount should questions arise about an election.

''We love our country, we love our Democracy, we 
cherish our freedom, but the bedrock of that 
freedom is the right to vote and the right to 
have our votes count,'' said U.S. Rep. Robert 
Wexler, D-Boca Raton, who joined Crist for the announcement.

Crist said he hoped to have paper trails for all 
voting machines by the 2008 election.

The state will pay to replace touch-screen 
machines with optical scanners, but supervisors 
will be given the option to use the now paperless 
devices for early voting if they retrofit them to 
produce a paper trail, said Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

''We want to ensure that every ballot cast in 
Florida will be able to be counted and verified,'' Browning said.
[snip the rest]


Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
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