Voting For President Should Be As Secure As A 25 Cent Bet In Las Vegas

[KittyWampus]

NYtimes continues its series on BBV.

Gambling On Voting

If election officials want to convince voters that electronic voting can be trusted, they should be willing to make it a at least as secure as slot machines. To appreciate how poor the oversight on voting ssytems is, it's useful to look at the way Nevada systematically ensures that electronic gambling machines in Las Vegas operate honestly and accurately. Electronic voting, by comparison, is rife with lax procedures, security risks and conflicts of interest.

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1. The state has access to all gambling software

2. The software on gambling machines is constantly being spot-checked.

3. There are meticulous, constantly updated standards for gambling machines.

4. Manufacturers are intensively scrutinized before they are licensed to sell gambling software or hardware.

5. The lab that certifies gambling equipment has an arms-length relationship with the manufacturers it polices, and is open to inquiries from the public.

6. When there is a dispute about a machine, a gambler has a right to an immediate investigation.

In each of the above cases, the NYTimes compares, in some depth, slot machines to BBV and the voting machines come up WAY SHORT.

Article ends with the following:

A Vote for president should be at least as secure as a 25-cent bet in Las Vegas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/opinion/13SUN1.html