Post-Gazette Editorial – 11/29/06

This page was last updated on November 29, 2006.

Help the voter: It’s time to address electronic voting problems; Editorial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; November 29, 2006.

I support the idea of paper backup, so the purpose of this critique is to show problems with the editorial.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The Democratic takeover of Congress has opened up a world of possibilities, and one of those concerns a piece of urgent business still left undone. This isn’t -- or at least shouldn’t be -- a liberal or conservative issue but one about shared values concerning the American system and good government.

“In 2002, as a result of the presidential election fiasco two years earlier in Florida, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, which promised to eliminate problems like hanging chads by mandating electronic voting machines that meet uniform federal standards. The Nov. 7 election was the first great test.”

[RWC] That HAVA mandates electronic voting machines is a myth and the PG should know better. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) provides funding to states that choose to change from punch cards or lever systems to something else. As with many federal laws covering extraconstitutional areas, states don’t have to do change voting systems if they choose not to accept the federal funds. Indeed, Title III, Section 301 says all existing voting systems can meet HAVA requirements.

“The result was far from encouraging. Although Allegheny County experienced minor problems, The New York Times reported that tens of thousands of voters in more than 25 states encountered serious problems at the polls. One of the most disturbing episodes occurred in Sarasota County, Fla., where 18,000 voters supposedly did not make a choice in a congressional race decided, at least for the reflexively gullible, by 369 votes.”

[RWC] For an outlet that buys liberalism hook, line, and sinker, to refer to others as “reflexively gullible” takes some nerve.

“Although nothing so alarming occurred in Pennsylvania, the state wasn’t without problems. In this area, long lines developed in Westmoreland County after machines developed problems. Local advocates for the handicapped also complained that their needs were not adequately met.

“As a further argument against local complacency, the touch-screen machines used in Sarasota --the ES&S iVotronic -- are from the same vendor chosen by a number of Western Pennsylvania counties, including Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Westmoreland.

“If these machines had a paper trail, all suspicions would be moot. But as the Post-Gazette’s Jerome Sherman reported from Washington this week, Pennsylvania is one of a shrinking number of states that don’t require electronic voting machines to have a visible paper backup. The Rendell administration has shown no leadership on this issue and the Legislature has not moved a bill to address the problem.”

[RWC] Seriously, does the PG really believe a paper trail would stop someone dedicated to throwing an election? If you can figure out how to mess with the voting machines, you can find a way to deal with the paper trail.

“This negligent behavior makes no sense in a nation that is, sad to say, heir to a culture of electoral cheating to which both parties have contributed historically. In places such as Britain, independent civil servants can be trusted to make sure elections can’t be fixed.”

[RWC] “[A] culture of electoral cheating to which both parties have contributed historically?” Call me suspicious, but when the PG asserts both parties are contributors to anything bad, that usually means Democrats do it far more often. If Republicans were the real problem, you can bet the PG would tell us.

“[I]ndependent civil servants can be trusted to make sure elections can’t be fixed?” Is the editorial serious?

“In the United States, individual counties such as Allegheny strive to be efficient and fair, but the system overall is under the direction of political figures. On these shores, a system of verifying votes is the only sensible option. That is especially true now that elections are tabulated by computers that many experts have warned are at risk of being manipulated in ways that defy easy detection.”

[RWC] Where was all the concern for previous voting machines?

“Voter-verified paper trails are the remedy -- and in this regard the Help America Vote Act needs help from Congress. In January, the Rendell administration and the state Legislature also should show that they are willing partners in the effort to make sure that every vote counts.”

[RWC] Why do we need help from Congress?

While the PG wants “to make sure that every vote counts,” I want to make sure every legal vote counts.

What I find interesting is while the PG is hot on voter verified paper backup for electronic voting machines, it is lukewarm (and I’m being generous) when it comes to a voter providing proper identification at the polls. Even though Pennsylvania HB 1318 didn’t even require a picture ID, a PG editorial barely came out in favor of it. Indeed, the editorial even implied it might be a Republican plot to disenfranchise minorities.