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To: ratan lal who wrote (122582)	12/13/2000 1:03:02 PM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Ratan lal, Simple. Use technology already avaiable. Touch screen with positve feedback will insure that one votes for the candidate one wants to. I think it is a good idea, but I can already see Jesse Jackson or Congressman Wexler saying their voters were disenfrachised because they are on the wrong side of digital divide. (Ignoring the fact that a lot of people receive training in using these types of devices in fast food franchises). Joe

To: ratan lal who wrote (122582)	12/13/2000 2:06:59 PM
From: pgerassi	Respond to of 186894

Dear Ratan: The problem with touch screen systems is the impossibility for people to trust the system. There is no good way to audit the system. At least with OSBs, the ballots themselves can verify the accuracy of the machines. In Volusia County with OSBs, both machine counts came up with the same result. After a manual recount, the machine counts were valid and the additional votes came from mismarked but, clear votes (marks just outside the correct place). This capability for easy determination of the correctness of machine counts, makes it far easier to trust the machine count as being accurate and unbiased (at least politically). This is not able to be done with the current touch screen proposals. Futhermore, OSBs are more cost effective since the scanners are heavily used in education for grading multiple choice tests. This large secondary application brings better economies of scale which, brings down the prices of OSB scanners. One can add a OSB voting booth much more cheaply (a curtained off table (booth) can be had for a couple of dollars) than a touch screen system (hundreds to thousands of dollars per booth). Only one scanner is recommended per polling precinct and many small precincts within one polling place can share a slightly more expensive scanner if, the ballots have a bar code identifying the precinct (and thus the places to check, and the rules to follow). All of the scanners can be set up to reject any illegal ballot and tell why it was rejected (no overvotes here). Another common modification is to reject ballots that do not contain a vote for an office, and this can be over riden by placing a place to mark to positively indicate that the voter is casting no vote (esentially vote to abstain) in that contest. This would solve all over and under votes at the time the voter scans his or hers ballot in which, gives them positive capability to fix it. Given the OSB scanner that requires one and only one mark for each contest office in an election, all of the over and under count disputes are totally removed except, for possibly (depending on the rules) overseas and absentee ballots. This would stop any of the heated discourse on all matters related to the tabulation of the vote except for outright fraud (ballot stuffing, dead vote, felon vote, multiple vote, etc.). That part can be cleaned up via procedure and/or laws, and such issues are properly resolved by the legal (judicial) system. Also, the OSB scanners can transmit their totals to a central secure web site (by a whole host of possible methods) and thus get an accurate count just after the last person vote is scanned (usually after the polls close) for all races contested. After the last polling place closes for a race, the total is quickly ascertained and published for all to see (with the caveat, "These results are unofficial (not certified or verified) and do not include the mandated overseas ballots ..."). When all the Q/A checks and other such procedures are finished, the disclaimer is simply removed or changed. Pete