[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Florida' s Bad Record on Voting Records

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The article below from NYTimes.com 
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Florida's Bad Record on Voting Records

July 29, 2004
 


 

Millions of Florida voters will cast ballots this November
on electronic voting machines that do not produce paper
records. State election officials have insisted that the
machines have safeguards to ensure that votes are
accurately recorded and counted, including a computerized
audit function. Recently, however, Miami-Dade County
officials admitted that almost all of the audit records
from a disputed 2002 primary had been accidentally
destroyed. This is disturbing news and casts serious doubt
on Florida's ability to run a fair election this fall. 

Two years after Florida's notorious presidential vote in
2000, the state held a gubernatorial primary in which Janet
Reno lost by 4,794 votes. There were widespread problems
with electronic voting and suspicious delays for a final
count. When the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition
requested the audit data from that election, officials told
it that almost all of the data had been lost in two
computer crashes last year. This spring, the audit function
malfunctioned in some electronic voting machines. 

Voters cannot be expected to trust computerized voting
machines with such serious flaws. Nor should they have to
tolerate public officials who withhold critical information
until they are asked the right question, or forced to tell
the truth by a court. Voters are learning of the loss of
audit data in Florida only now because a citizens' group
fought to get the information. Similarly, Florida election
officials fought the release of their list of felons to be
purged from voting rolls this year. When a court made the
list public, it was found to be so riddled with errors that
the state was forced to scrap it. 

Florida's secretary of state, Glenda Hood, has insisted
that the voting technology is thoroughly reliable and that
the critics are simply stirring up trouble. Ms. Hood should
drop this head-in-the-sand approach and quickly provide the
protections the voters need. The most urgent would be a
review by a team that includes independent computer
experts. Florida's election system was a national disgrace
in 2000, and it is well on its way to becoming one again. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/29/opinion/29thu2.html?ex=1092117143&ei=1&en=8d706e7a58b428c9


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