[E-voting] optical scan devices

[Catherine Ansbro]

 From an article that just came out yesterday:

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1096

"But perhaps more frightening are the opti-scan machines that read the 
opti-scan paper ballots. These ballots that have to be marked with a 
special pen proved a notorious failure in Lucas County, Ohio, particularly 
in Toledo's heavily Democratic wards. One of the problems is that the 
machines can be calibrated to be very sensitive, rejecting abnormally high 
rates of ballots if the marks stray outside the designated area. The 
machines counting mechanisms are adjusted by technicians and controlled by 
secret proprietary software owned by the company. This lack of transparency 
is unacceptable in all other democratic governments."

Again, you have to look at the whole system, not just any one technical 
component.  And as previous posters commented, there are significant 
social/human factors involved, not just technological, that can be the 
source of problems.

Catherine