A New Way to Vote

I read this editorial that asked the question: What really is the best way to count the votes? Is it electronic voting? Is it a paper-ballot? This editorial claims that neither is what America needs. Recently there has been a lot of paranoia about electronic voting, but thanks to Florida’s paper-ballot controversy in 2000, electronic voting is not going anywhere. The author instead calls for a solution that would use modern technology but also calm fears about electronic voting. The method would combine paper ballots and a Web site to achieve greater ballot security. Each voter would take home a photocopy of a randomly selected ballot that is not their own. Paper ballots would be counted by optical scanners or even by hand. The results would be then posted on a Web site. A serial number would be assigned to each ballot and voters could check the site to make sure that their random ballots were posted correctly. If voters were given paper records of their own ballots, they would most likely throw it out in the first trash they see where election workers could retrieve them and change the corresponding electronic votes. The Web site would publish the names of everyone who voted to prevent someone from adding fake votes. I think this is a step in the right direction. I think the computer is the way to go. As Gwaltney says, if I am supposed to put faith in the computer to handle my banking, my lifesavings, then I should be able to have faith that it can handle this task.