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Mayor Bloomberg Says No Paper Trail Is Necessary With Electronic Voting

May 21, 2005

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says when the city buys new electronic voting machines, he doesn't think it will be necessary for them leave a paper trail.

On his radio show Friday, the mayor said technology is advanced enough these days that paper backups aren't needed.

"For the life of me, I have never understood the argument that you can't build a voting system with computers that is secure, I would do it, personally, without a paper trail," said Bloomberg.

"If you're worried about honesty in computers and their reliability," he continued, "don't get on the airplane, don't get on the subway, don't get in your car, don't bother to turn on the lights or the water. Everything is controlled by computers and they're phenomenally reliable."

The mayor's stance is at odds with his Democratic rivals, all of whom want new voting machines to have a paper trail.

New York is the last state in the nation without a plan to update its voting systems. State lawmakers have been unable to agree on what kinds of machines to get, and have thrown the issue open to counties.

If no decision is made, New York stands to lose nearly $$200 million in federal funds.

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