Why We Fear the Digital Ballot

An event was held at the National Press Club last Wednesday to highlight the dangers of electronic voting. The attendees watched a film of a chimpanzee pressing keys on a keyboard. The film was supposed to be evidence that even an animal could mess up an electronic vote. Possible problems with the tabulating software of an electronic voting machine were shown as indications that democracy is in trouble. In contrast with this view, few experts say that electronic voting could completely undermine the November election, however, most do say that electronic voting does have serious problems. Over the last century, there have been many new ways to vote, and most of them were rejected by experts at first because they were thought to be too easy to tamper with. The public has been more accepting, until now. The 2000 election produced a quick surge in the demand for electronic voting machines, however, now people are more savvy about the problems with computer systems, namely viruses, hackers, and worms, to fully embrace the machines.