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Florida plans to dump touch-screen voting
By UPI Staff
United Press International
February 2, 2007
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (UPI) -- Florida, scene of several high profile voting machine glitches, will return to paper ballots if the legislature approves, Gov. Charlie Crist said Thursday.
The ballots would be counted by electronic scanning, The New York Times reported.
Experts say the switch in such a large state could mean the end of paperless touch-screen machines. Critics say the machines -- which resemble bank cash machines -- can be hacked, and provide no way to check that vote counts match the electorate's actual choices.
"Florida is like a synonym for election problems; it's the Bermuda Triangle of elections," said Warren Stewart, policy director of VoteTrust USA, which favors optical scanners. "For Florida to be clearly contemplating moving away from touch screens to the greatest extent possible is truly significant."
The 2000 presidential race was effectively decided in Florida. President George W. Bush was declared the winner a month after the election, and there were major problems with the count in some areas.
In 2006, thousands of voters in one congressional district were recorded as having not voted in the race for congressional representative.
Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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