[EM] MIT-Caltech study (FWD)

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

D- From the lorrie  e-lection mailing list---
Technology will have to be used for the more complex election methods.
----

[I recommend reading the entire report and not
just this press release. The report is available in
PDF format from this page. This is a preliminary
study and there are a lot of caveats. --LFC]

MIT-Caltech study votes for
paper ballots, levers, scanning devices

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2001/voting1.html

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A nationwide study of voting systems by the Caltech/MIT
Voting Project reveals that paper ballots, optical scanning devices and
lever machines are more efficient than punch-card and ATM-like electronic
systems.
The study focuses on so-called "undervotes" and "overvotes," which are
combined into a group of uncounted ballots called "residual votes." These
include ballots with votes for more than one candidate, with no vote, or
that are marked in a way that is uncountable. The residual voting rate for
the first three systems averages about 2 percent, and for the last two
systems about 3 percent.
"One important caveat is in order in this analysis," the 11-page preliminary
report says. "There are errors that we cannot count. There is no way to
measure whether voters accidentally cast ballots for the wrong candidate.
And we know of no statistically acceptable measure of fraud."
The findings were submitted to the task force studying the presidential
election procedures in Florida, which subsequently voted to replace punch
card voting with optical scanning devices.
This study, the most extensive analysis ever of the effects of voting
technology on under- and overvotes, covers the entire country for all
presidential elections since 1988, and examines variations at the county
level. The analysis is complicated by the fact that voting systems vary from
county to county and across time.
The statistical analysis found that electronic voting, as currently
implemented, has performed less well than was widely believed. When a voting
system is switched, say from lever machines to the ATM-like direct recording
electronic devices (DREs), the number of residual votes may go up due to
voter unfamiliarity with the new technology.
"Electronic voting technology is in its infancy and seems the most likely
one to benefit significantly from new innovations and increased voter
familiarity," the report says.
When the study is complete, it will encompass presidential elections going
back to 1980, and will examine a finer breakdown of the different
technologies, and a breakdown of residual votes into its two components:
over- and undervotes. A final report will be released in June.
The Voting Project was created by Caltech president David Baltimore and MIT
president Charles M. Vest in December. Faculty from both campuses
immediately began collecting data and studying the range of voting methods
across the nation in the hope of avoiding in the future the vote-counting
chaos that followed the 2000 presidential election.
The report was written principally by MIT Professor Stephen Ansolabehere.
Other MIT faculty involved in the project are Professors Steven Graves,
Nicholas Negroponte, Ronald Rivest and Charles Stewart. The Caltech faculty
are Professors Michael Alvarez, Erik Antonsson, Jehoshua Bruck and Thomas
Palfrey.

=====================================================================
This message was distributed through the e-lection mailing list.
For info and archives see http://www.research.att.com/~lorrie/voting/
=====================================================================