Letter Of The Day

it's not often i learn from letter writers, but today was different. i had heard about this bill, but didn't really understand what it meant. now i, and you, do.

America’s system of counting votes is beset by grave problems that cast doubt on the integrity of our elections. At least 80 percent of the votes in America are counted by computer equipment designed and sold by just a handful of companies.

Many machines do not leave a paper trail. The software on these machines is a trade secret. And the testing of vote-counting software is done mostly by companies that are paid by the voting-machine companies. These testing companies are by definition not independent, and their testing is hardly authoritative.

When independent computer scientists in California and Florida were given partial access to the Diebold company’s election software, they found the latest generation of Diebold’s AccuVote machines allow anyone with access to its memory cards to switch election results at will, leaving no trace of tampering. This latest generation of Diebold machines, including ballot scanners and paperless touchscreens, are now used throughout Iowa.

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2006 (HR 550) addresses these problems and has more than 160 cosponsors from both parties. No cosponsors are from Iowa. Congress should pass this badly needed law.
— Sean Flaherty, North Liberty.

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