[EM] Upgrading Voting Machines May Take 10 Years, USA Today Reports

[Forest Simmons]

I would like to hear your idea.

Forest

On Fri, 16 Feb 2001, lvtinnin wrote:

> Hello,
> I am new here.  I have an idea for improving the voting method a
> little.  It would not cover all areas of voting, but it would be
> directed at eliminating ballots with too many votes for a candidate,
> and eliminating ballots with votes not cast for some choices on a
> ballot.  This would help to prevent votes getting thrown out, and also
> vote tampering if something was not voted for.  If you want me to
> continue a little more I will.  It is not complicated.  It might be
> less expensive than putting in all new voting machines. It might
> partly eliminate the problem of hanging chads.
> Yours Truly,
> Lester Tinnin at lvtinnin3 at worldnet.att.net
> or nocodemus at yahoo.com
> 
> On Thu, 15 Feb 2001 22:48:41 EST, you wrote:
> 
> >D- To U.S.A. EM folks especially-- the below has a direct bearing on the 
> >semi-emergency necessity to get more accurate election methods.
> >------
> >D- 
> >U.S.A., State and local government spending in 1999 was 
> >$ 2,613.5  Billion noncapital spending
> >$    308.7 Billion gross capital investment
> >
> >Data- Survey of Current Business, Jan 2001, pp. D-8, D-14.
> >
> >Give me (and the rest of the U.S.A.) a break about the 10 year time period to 
> >upgrade voting machines.   
> >
> >How much for paper ballots only and an emergency mobilization of the entire 
> >adult population to count / recount ballots on election night ???
> >------------
> >
> >Upgrading Voting Machines May Take 10 Years, USA Today Reports
> >  
> >Washington, Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Industry officials estimate that replacing 
> >the nation's outdated punch-card voting machines can't be accomplished by the 
> >next presidential election in 2004, USA Today reported. 
> >
> >Modernizing all of the voting equipment in the U.S. may take a decade, 
> >industry leaders told USA Today. 
> >
> >``I don't think the industry is ready for the demand that is potentially 
> >going to come,'' Kimball Brace, a leading election consultant, told the 
> >newspaper. There are fewer than a dozen companies in the U.S. that 
> >manufacture voting equipment, the newspaper said. 
> >
> >Congress may end up paying $2.5 billion in voting-machine upgrades, USA Today 
> >said. There are roughly 600,000 old punch-card and mechanical-lever voting 
> >machines in the U.S., according to the newspaper. 
> >
> >Researchers are examining the issues surrounding the disputed punch-card 
> >ballots during the 2000 presidential election and how to improve the accuracy 
> >of voting machines. A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of 
> >Technology and the California Technical Institute is already working to 
> >develop better voting procedures and machines for the 2004 election. 
> >
> >(USA Today 2/14 A1) For the USA Today Web site, type {USAT <GO>}. 
> >
> >Feb/14/2001  9:03 ET 
> 
>