Letter in 9/16/05 web edition of the Elmira Star-Gazette
Elmira Star-Gazette
Letter to the editor
September 16, 2005
I was intrigued by the Sept. 4 Guest View, "Future of
Voting at Stake," by Susan Multer. It would appear that there is
sufficient momentum to propel us into the electronic voting age with or without
the safeguards cautioned by existing electronic voting machine users throughout
the country.
High-tech electronics has spawned an interest in high-speed
vote processing. However, I think Multer has expressed a viewpoint that is
troublesome for many of us: Computerized electronic voting machines are not
fail-safe. The software for these machines is proprietary. State and county
officials are prohibited from examining it, and there is a plethora of
cyberspace data
that suggest the electronic voting machine data is still
vulnerable to fraud and manipulation not exclusively by dishonest technicians.
Should we prepare ourselves for an acceptable percentage of
voting machine failure rates as occurred in other areas of the country? Whose
votes will be discounted?
I find it unconscionable that the electronic voting machine
companies could utilize their technical expertise to manipulate the outcome of
an election. The purchase of certain electronic voting machines will call into
question the integrity of our voting system.
Bravo Susan Multer for your article addressing this
controversy. Thank you for bringing this information to public attention.
CAL BREWER
Elmira
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