"No-confidence vote earned by machines" by Bob Barr (former Republican US Congressman)

The pell-mell rush to electronic voting machines was launched after the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida. It was fueled by Congress' knee-jerk reaction to that fiasco in passing the "Help America Vote Act" in 2002, along with a boatload of taxpayer dollars — nearly $4 billion.

Unfortunately, this well-funded fascination with electronic voting machines has proceeded with virtually no comprehensive study or development of national standards to ensure the integrity of the machines and how they are utilized. Each state sets its own standards — or doesn't — and follows its own rules in letting contracts for the machines.

Most states, including Georgia, have opted for machines that provide no paper trail. Other, more costly machines produce a "voter-verified paper trail" that records a voter's choices in electronic form with the machine's computer(s) and contemporaneously on paper, thus allowing for audits. Regardless of which type of electronic voting machine a state chooses, however, experts agree that all have serious potential problems. They are susceptible to hacking, especially those with wireless components.

A recent, 150-page report by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School concluded that because there are no comprehensive standards for electronic voting machines, and given the demonstrated potential problems inherent in such devices, all states ought to take certain steps to enhance security and minimize opportunity for fraud , including:

•Automatic and routine audits, with voter-verified paper records, in every election.

•Random selection of voting machines on election days for testing and examination for possible software attacks or viruses.

•Banning of wireless components in all voting machines.

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