I favor paper ballots marked secretly/cast publicly, hand counted in full public view on election night in the local precincts with results posted immediately in the precinct and online, with numerous independent exit polls to verify the results. I also favor campaign finance reform; getting corporate money out of the political process. Less commericals and more debates, including 3rd party and independent candidates. Range voting and Approval Voting offer better security, choice and reflection of the People’s will than instant run-off voting. If “elites” are really elite, they should be able to compete on a level playing field with the rest of us. Level the playing field, and let the best hearts, minds and ideas be seen and succeed.
Original, August 23, 2006 http://www.zogby.com/News/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1163
A majority of Americans—61%—are aware of news reports of flaws in electronic voting machines and want members of the general public to be able to watch votes be counted following an election, a new Zogby International poll shows.
The telephone survey of 1,018 likely voters was conducted Aug. 11-15, 2006. It carries a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Asked whether Americans have the right to view and obtain information about how elections officials count votes, 92% of respondents concurred.
“The 92% support for the public’s right to view vote counting and obtain information about it is a very strong political value of transparency and against secret vote counting outside the observation of the public,” said Paul Lehto, a lawyer and sponsor of the survey. “To put this figure in context, support for election transparency exceeds the support for tax cuts, exceeds the approval of Pres. Bush immediately after 9-11, and virtually all other political values being measured.” Mr. Lehto is counsel in the 50th Congressional District election contest in California.
Most of those surveyed— 80%—said they want votes to be counted in front of observers representing the public, and that elections officials should not rely solely on the proprietary software that operates electronic voting machines that are presently being installed all over the United States.
Word to the Universe 