WTF? (Part IIIa,b,c(4,5.2))
Florida Court Dismisses Lawsuit Seeking Paper Trail for Touchscreen Voting Machines

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A state appeals court dismissed a lawsuit that sought a paper trail for Florida's new touchscreen voting machines, ruling Friday that voters are not guaranteed 'a perfect voting system.'
....
State officials say Friday's ruling proves again that Florida's new multimillion-dollar touchscreen voting machines will fix the problems seen with paper ballots.

"Florida's voters should have confidence that their vote will count on Election Day," said Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for [Sec of State Glenda] Hood.

The appeals court, upholding a lower-court ruling, found that using a paperless voting system does not severely restrict the right to vote.

Possibly not the right to vote, but perhaps the right to have it count? Why are we surprised, when they actually made it illegal to recount ballots on the new machines, because computers are supposed to be perfect? Now we hear that, well, even if they're not perfect, no one ever guaranteed them a perfect system.

Maybe if Kerry swings ahead in this state they'll start whining about wanting paper trails and recounting ballots themselves. If so, I will just laugh and laugh.

Good evening, folks. I knew I'd find some bit of Friday mischief they don't really want you to see. This is pretty good, but I'm sure there's more out there, so will continue my hunt.

Voter registration went extremely well this afternoon -- most people said they wished they could register a second time so they could get two votes, but I had to shake my head sadly, no. One 17 year old kid with a birthday in October tried to wriggle away, but his girlfriend wouldn't let him leave until he signed up, but then he looked real happy, though confused. That girl will go far.
- posted by Cynthia @ 8:50 PM | | | Link |