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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (79093)	11/17/2000 1:49:19 AM
From: Lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

The government standards department recommended in the mid 80's that all of these types of machines be scrapped as they are far too unreliable. This is IBM technology from the 1950's!

To: greenspirit who wrote (79093)	11/17/2000 2:00:59 AM
From: Mr. Whist	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Cummings: Is it possible for you to discuss issues rationally, calmly, and not resort to histrionics and bashing? I don't think so. Reread the CNN story. Hand counts have been ruled legitimate by court after court after court. This isn't opinion. This is fact. Admit it. Your boy, GWB, is one of the founding fathers of hand count validation in the state of Texas.

To: greenspirit who wrote (79093)	11/17/2000 6:04:57 AM
From: Mao II	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Even the manufacturers, plumping their machines in NY TIMES, say hand counts are more accurate: "If you have 400,000 cards and not a single error, somebody has faked the results," said Robert Swartz, president of Cardamation, which has been making punch-card readers for 25 years. "If you've got 400,000 and 1,000 errors, that would be more likely," said Mr. Swartz, who has seen rates of 1 percent and higher. The errors usually consist of choices that are not read correctly. John Hanna, sales manager for Peripheral Dynamics Inc. of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., another manufacturer of card readers, whose accuracy he estimated at 99.9 percent, said, "Like any electromechanical device, it can have a failure." Ultimately, industry officials said, the most precise way to count ballots is by hand. "The important thing here is that there may be no way to get a 100 percent accurate count by a machine," said Mr. Swartz, whose card readers are approved by the Federal Election Commission for use in punch-card voting systems. "It is totally reasonable that the most accurate way to do it is a carefully run recount." Officials with Election Systems and Software Inc., of Omaha, which sells voting systems around the country, contend that the accuracy of their punch-card systems can be as high as 99.99 percent — "if the cards are quality and the chad is cleaned," said Todd Urosevich, vice president of customer service. "There isn't a voting technology you'd be able to say, Gee, this is perfect," Mr. Urosevich said. And in close races, manual recounts are the way the machine's imperfections are resolved. "A manual recount can be extremely accurate," he said. nytimes.com