Saket Vora

This column appeared in the October 5th issue of NC State’s student newspaper The Technician.

Five days after my last column ran in these pages discussing the benefits and dangers of electronic voting, the state of Maryland showed the entire nation in spectacular fashion how badly an election could be screwed up. Despite spending $106 million dollars for new equipment, the Diebold AccuVote machines sometimes froze and crashed. Electronic poll books, which were used to register voters and pull up their ballots, got out of sync and sometimes crashed, slowing the process down and increasing the wait time. Smartcards which were needed to activate the poll books weren�t delivered on time to all the polling stations, and some of the poll workers didn�t even know how to use the equipment.

Shaking my head as I read about the aftermath of this election debacle, I wondered how North Carolina would fare this upcoming November. A visit to the State Board of Elections website revealed some interesting facts about how voters will vote in North Carolina. About 32% of the state�s 2752 precincts will almost exclusively use electronic voting machines while approximately 40% of precincts won�t be using any. Most of the counties that heavily use electronic voting machines lie in western North Carolina. Wake County, home to the capital city, will only be using optical scan machines that work like Scantron machines, just like they�ve been doing since 1992. I asked the election director for Wake County, Ms. Cherie Poucher, why the county hadn�t opted for the more high tech electronic voting machines. She explained that the county has had good experience with the accuracy, maintenance, and usability of the optical scan machines. In addition, the county could do its own programming and testing without resorting to vender provided services. This is in contrast to Diebold, which vehemently opposes other parties testing their electronic voting machines. One bit of good news is that North Carolina uses Election Systems & Software�s (ESS) iVotronic system, which has had far fewer criticisms against it compared with Diebold�s pathetic offerings.

Critical to increasing voter�s confidence in electronic voting is the use of a voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). As you vote on the machine, every action you make is printed to a secure paper log that you can view through a clear window. This paper trail can be used to verify that the voting machine properly tallied the votes and can also be used for recounts or in the event of a system failure. I contacted the election directors for Mecklenburg, Guilford, Alamance, Davidson, Henderson, Wilson, and Brunswick counties, all which overwhelming use electronic voting machines, and asked them about the VVPAT. The responses I received were surprisingly fast, cordial, and helpful. All electronic voting machines in North Carolina are required to have VVPATs and that their iVotronic systems shipped with them. I also learned that some counties in western North Carolina have been using electronic voting machines for over 15 years.

I feel North Carolina will avoid a repeat of the Maryland election debacle. Our electronic voting machines aren�t being nationally criticized every other week, and election officials here seem to be more experienced in using such systems. The mandatory paper trail and a required hand-to-eye audit to discover any discrepancies have given North Carolina the distinction of being one of 11 states to qualify as �low risk� by the nonpartisan governmental accountability group Common Cause. Still, I believe voters should still be aware and cognizant of problems that could happen. Nationally, there is a shortage of poll workers and a 2004 report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission stated that the average age of a U.S. poll worker is 72. Procedures should be in place for backup provisional paper ballots to be used in case the machines fail to operate properly. One problem that exacerbated the marred Maryland election was that when the problems began to mount, poll workers weren�t sure what to do. North Carolina still has time to refine contingency plans and make sure officials across the state are ready for anything by November 7^th.

Why does this issue ever matter? Aside from the fact that voting is a fundamental cornerstone of our democratic process, fair and accurate voting is crucial to building trust, confidence, and the legitimacy of a government.