Ask ‘n ye shall receive.
"I would be extremely interested in seeing these studies"
Start here. Use the bibliography and footnotes for key words to other studies, Ph.D. theses, company and government research, and juried papers, many available on the Internet.
CFP'93 - Assuring Accuracy, Integrity and Security in National Elections : The Role of the U.S. Congress
cpsr.org
The problem is the pre-scoring which may, through incorrect punching or rough handling, cause extra chad to fall out, or cause hanging chad to be forced back into the ballot card, thereby misstating the voter's choices to the computer. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommended the elimination of pre-scored ballot cards in 1988, but this recommendation carried no mandatory requirement, and very little elimination of pre-scored ballot cards has occurred.
NIST's recommendation was not a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), but even if it were, such standards may not be applicable to Federal elections at this time. Whether or not minimum performance requirements, such as accuracy requirements for ballot reading, should be mandatory is a policy issue that needs investigation.
There has been additional concern expressed about the human factor in the use of the "votomatic" type card. A lawsuit filed in St. Louis in 1990, and a recent review of Atlanta ballots have raised the possibility that more undervotes and overvotes occur with these ballots in precincts populated by the less-educated than in other precincts. The unusual voting patterns seen in the Mack v. McKay 1988 Florida U.S. Senate contest (and commented on publicly by knowledgeable observers) in which these ballot card types were used may indicate a similar problem. It would seem that research into this issue could be valuable, and this research could either concentrate on this specific problem, or be concerned generally with the human factor in the use of various configurations of voting equipment. However, there is no Federal program to sponsor or focus such research.
Etc. etc. |
