Mauro Hasn’t Forgotten
It’s a bit of a relief to hear that our new Secretary of State took office today promising to work for a paper trail in Iowa voting booths.
To be sure, it was his main campaign promise. But his appointment of Linda Langenberg as his deputy in charge of elections raised doubts regarding his committment. In October Langenberg accused voting machine critics of practicing a “form of terrorism.”
Mauro also was quoted as indicating the paper trail “allow[s] election officials to audit results.” Let’s hope he means what this should mean: That he wants to check the paper results against the computer count in a routine way every election.
Meanwhile real reform advocates have moved beyond the paper trail solution. Election officials have opposed paper trails as unworkable and reform advocates are adopting that view. Reformers say real paper ballots are the only reliable ballot, whereas officials are still largely content to do nothing about the problem they have bought in to.
So watch out, Secretary Mauro: Paper “trails” may be yesterday’s news.
January 2nd, 2007 at 10:54 pm
What about an electronically-printed ballot? Something that prints out the name of the candidate you are voting for as well as the code that allows it to be interpreted by a scantron? That seems like it would combine the best of both worlds - machine versatility with paper documentation.
January 4th, 2007 at 12:32 am
Agreed Jerry. You are right to be cautious about his “first call to action.” I challenge you to ask him what his position was in 2005 before the new machines were purchased and the paper trail legislation died in the legislature, and then take it a step further and ask legislators where he was. I believe it was: I support them personally, but they should not be mandatory. If he and Linda have had a change of heart, great, but it is rewriting history to suggest that has always held his current position.
Thank you for your effort.
January 4th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Drew: Open Voting Consortium’s Alan Dechert is working to covert touchscreens into ballot printers. The ballots could then be scanned. His plan keeps the computer at the poll to aid blind voters, but stops it from being the counting machine it is today.
Jose: “No Unfunded Mandates” is a common cry among county officials when they see state action looming. In the voting machine case they ignored the funding that was available and just hid behind the “No Mandates” portion of the battlecry. Auditors didn’t want to be seen telling other auditors what to do. If Mauro was one of those Mind My Own Busines types, I’m not surprised. I suppose it doesn’t help his credibility with other auditors to reverse his position now.