http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20071107.081849&time=08%2058%20PST&year=2007&public=0
Nov. 7, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 7 (AScribe Newswire) -- For more
than a century, voting machines have helped shape American political history.
The chaos of the 2000 presidential election in Florida
demonstrated the crucial role that voting machines played in shaping the
outcome of that election. But Bryan Pfaffenberger believes there is value in
understanding that the interaction between technology and culture has been
going on for more than a century.
Pfaffenberger, a historian of science and an associate professor
at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science, is
studying the history of mechanical-lever voting machines. His research focuses
on the machines' introduction in New York State in 1892 to 1925, when the
technology was employed throughout the state.
"There's an almost exact parallel between the debate
we're having today concerning electronic voting machines and the equally
divisive, but completely forgotten, debate that greeted first-generation voting
machine technology in the 1920s," Pfaffenberger says.
By showing how first-generation voting machines enabled
national party elites to reduce the autonomy of localities, Pfaffenberger is
helping to resolve a long-lasting controversy among political scientists and
historians about who was responsible for the sweeping electoral reforms that
characterized the 1890s.
A recent, $27,000 grant from the National Science Foundation
is allowing Pfaffenberger to pursue archival research on the topic. Already, he
has found that scholars have all but ignored the history of voting machines,
which he finds surprising given our politically obsessed culture.
"It's almost as if this subject wasn't even explored
until the 2000 presidential election," he says. "After that, voting
technology suddenly mattered to folks." Why is Pfaffenberger's current
research focused on New York? Not only were voting machines first used in
upstate New York, but also the Empire State led the nation in adopting voting
machines. In 1927, 80 percent of the votes cast in New York were cast
mechanically; the nearest competitor, Indiana, used voting machines in only 20
of 92 counties.
Pfaffenberger's study has already turned up some surprises.
It's well known that, throughout the United States, the
decade of the 1890s was roiled by ballot reform specifically, implementation of
the Australian or secret ballot, a process marked by controversy. Election
districts had to choose from three different Australian ballot designs, each of
which had differing implications for the balance of political power between
local political interests including the likes of New York City's notorious
Tammany Hall and national party elites.
In New York, unlike the rest of the country, the Australian
ballot was implemented largely on voting machines, not on paper. New York's
voting machines embodied a design that strongly favored the interests of
national party elites while undermining local political autonomy. Because the
design was mechanically embodied, and could not be easily or cheaply altered,
national party elites strongly backed the machines and local political
organizations, including Tammany Hall, strongly opposed them.
Pfaffenberger's study is part of a larger Democracy and
Technology program that he is developing with colleagues in the University's
Department of Science, Technology and Society an initiative that has already
sparked several cross-University collaborations and additions to the
curriculum.
"It's fitting that this initiative is underway at the
university Thomas Jefferson founded," says Pfaffenberger. "Jefferson
strongly believed that engineers need to be good citizens; today, the need is
greater than ever, so it's important for science and engineering students
indeed, students throughout the University to reflect on how technologies shape
our democracy."
More than a century after issues of electoral reforms were
first raised, the controversy over the presidential voting in Florida continues
to reverberate. Earlier this year the U.S. House of Representatives passed a
bill that would require every state to use paper records permitting voters to
see that they had correctly cast their votes. At the same time, electronic
voting systems used in California were shown to be vulnerable to hacking.
Clearly, the role of machine voting technology will continue
be front and center, not just during off-year elections but especially as the
2008 presidential election nears.
To view a video of Pfaffenberger discussing his work, go to
this Web page http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=3191 and look
for the video link in the right column.
To arrange an interview with Pfaffenberger, contact either
Jeffery G. Hanna at 434-243-2070 or jhanna@virginia.edu or Andrea Arco at
434-924-7508 or ana8n@Virginia.EDU.
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