There is More to an Election than Machines !!

In the ongoing and crucial discussion on how ballots are to be

cast in future elections in New York State I fear that too much emphasis

has been placed on technology. As someone who has worked as an election

inspector in the City of Albany for more than 15 years I am concerned

about the human factor - the confused, the marginal, the nervous, the all

too imperfect voter. We are surely getting closer to a computer culture.

But complete computer literacy is still a long way off. I suspect we will

always have voters with limited educational backgrounds and/or abilities.

These are the voters who need the concrete, the easily understood use of

a marked ballot, rather than the unfamiliar computer screen. And for the

foreseeable future we will have a large contingent of the elderly who

will have had no contact with computers and who in many cases find them

strange and mysterious devices. We don't need any voters to face mystery

when they cast their ballots.

As someone who has seen computer problems first hand I shudder at

the thought of a breakdown in a computer at a polling place. It could be

caused by an interruption of power for no more than a few seconds or

something in the program and/or machine. Overcoming a problem in a

voting machine would be child's play compared to what would happen if a

computer or computer system broke down. It is true that optical scanning

could also be affected by electrical problems, but the reality is that

there would be in place ballots that in the worst of circumstances could

be tallied by hand.

The issue of a paper record for all votes cast is a crucial one,

of course. But in this brief essay I am not addressing it. There is

enough being said on all sides. I am pleading with those making a

decision about how votes are to be case to remember all those people who

will find touch screen voting confusing and

strange. Their votes should be cast under the least arduous or

threatening circumstances as possible. To ignore the human factor and

concentrate just on the miracles of technology is to put the cart before

the horse. Let us be prudent in the choices to be made. Let us remember

all the people who will be voting in the future.

Mark P. Yolles

April 22, 2006

Albany NY

Mansion2000 at yahoo.com