There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about electronic voting machines, and a lot of security and transparency issues to suggest consider getting rid of them.
But, honestly, the worst, most stoopid reason to do so is because it costs money to maintain them … and states don't want to spend the money and Congress (coughHouseGOPcough) won't allocate any because the states should have to do it.
I mean, really? We keep calling ourselves the richest country on Earth and We're Number One and all that jazz — and when the voting machines wear out we're simply not going to replace them because someone might have to spend some money?
I don't buy the argument that the US has already become a banana republic, but when we get there, this will be a great piece of evidence.
States ditch electronic voting machines
Nearly 70 percent of voters will be casting paper ballots this year.
It's been 10 years since I voted at a polling station. I vote by mail now.
If I were in charge of voting technology, I’d use any excuse available to ditch electronic voting machines, even if it made me look stupid. I mean, hell, shouldn’t public servants be immune to that by now?
@George – Well, yeah — and “We could do this thing, but it would cost us a million-zillion dollars and would never get approved” is an excuse I’ve used before. I’m just tired of hearing it regarding maintenance of government services.
+Scott Randel I don't think it's been that long for me, but, yes, vote-by-mail is how I go.
We’ve had those paper ballots for some time now. I miss levers, and that satisfying THUNK! when one reopened the curtain. I’ll accept that these are better, but I still won’t ever like them.