While the original design specification for electronic voting machines stated they should register one vote, per person, per issue, there are early indications that this minimum requirement has been significantly outperformed.
...
The Spoof
Americans are an ingenious people, continually seeking innovation in the earnest pursuit of happiness. At times, though, their commitment to technology is counterproductive. Cybersex, is a good example of an American innovation that fails to match what can be accomplished in more traditional ways, for instance, in the back seat of car.
Voting machines are another example of misapplied technological ingenuity. A computerized voting machine cannot possibly come under public scrutiny. By its nature, its function can be analyzed and verified only by a highly qualified specialist.
Electronic voting machines thus negate and essential requirement of democracy, which is a transparently reliable mechanism whereby the electorate can express its will.
This is in stark contrast with the traditional process of voting with paper ballots, which allows even the most technologically illiterate citizen to participate in monitoring the fairness of a vote.
The handing out of ballots, the checking of names off the electoral roll, the transfer of the ballot to the ballot box, the transfer of the ballot box to the place of counting, the counting of the ballots: these are all events open to scrutiny by representatives of the contending parties. What's more the ballots are preserved and can be recounted if the accuracy of the count is in question.
Paper ballots are essential to a valid democratic process. The introduction of voting machines places the outcome of every American election in doubt, a doubt that surely marks the beginning of the end of real democracy in America.
The Canadian Spectator is optimized for viewing with Firefox Version 1.02.
Please address correspondence to 
.
