Larry:

To be clearer, I mean they work great as far as the user interface.
There is no way to mis-vote under the simple and votor-proof electronic
interface. I'm also under the assumption that the tally is electronic,
not paper. However, as I mentioned, I have no idea how the tally of each
machine is transferred to the election officials. Regardless, I'm
confident that these systems are far superior to paper punch-card
systems. One of our employees noticed an HP card reader from the 60s
being used somewhere in Florida!

John


Larry Barnes wrote:
>
> How do you know they work great?  How do you know if your vote was counted.
> According to the national news between 6-10% of these voter cards are not counted
> do to errors.
>
> John Painter wrote:
>
> > Wirt:
> >
> > We use the same machine in some areas of NJ-- they ARE great, although
> > I'm not sure how the count is transferred from each machine to the
> > central authorities.
> >
> > John Painter
> > ---------------------------
> >
> > Wirt Atmar wrote:
> > >
> > > Driven by a deep and abiding faith that you can find anything on the web
> > > nowadays, I've spent the last 24 hours trying to find the manufacturer of the
> > > voting machines that Mike Church and I described in somewhat glowing terms
> > > yesterday.
> > >
> > > However, there are times when a web search becomes exceedingly difficult, as
> > > it did in this instance: there are tens of thousands of local electoral board
> > > web pages *discussing* voting machines, virtually all of them without
> > > reference to the brand names of the products they use. Because of that
> > > fruitlessness, I was ready to throw in the towel trying to find the original
> > > manufacturer's web page. Ultimately, what allowed me to find the proper
> > > manufacturer was by my going to AltaVista and doing a web search on *images*
> > > of voting machines.
> > >
> > > Given my difficulties in finding this information, I now humbly submit that
> > > everyone immediately drop what you're doing and click on:
> > >
> > >      http://www.spve.com/products/avc_advantage.html
> > >
> > > All kidding aside, this is a very well designed instrument, and I am
> > > impressed by it. Indeed, it has won several design awards. The AVC Advantage
> > > voting machine was introduced in 1988, and to the best of my rememberances,
> > > that's just about how long we've been using them here locally. Because of the
> > > nature of the machine's design, none of the contentious arguments about
> > > pregnant- and dimpled-chad or overpunching that are now raging in Florida can
> > > occur with this device.*
> > >
> > > Sequoia Pacific, the company that makes these devices, has just now released
> > > a replacement model, this time based on a touch-screen CRT:
> > >
> > >      http://www.spve.com/products/avc_edge.html
> > >
> > > that is supposed to be even easier and more certain to use.
> > >
> > > Given the public attention that has been given to the failure of the punched
> > > paper ballot over the past week, no matter its form, if Sequoia Pacific were
> > > a publicly traded company (and I find no information that suggests that they
> > > are), it would very likely be a very good investment over the next few years.
> > >
> > > You can't publicity for the argument for better voting methods than that that
> > > has occurred during the last week.
> > >
> > > Wirt Atmar
> > >
> > > *However, that doesn't preclude other forms of screw-ups. The county clerk
> > > for the Dona Ana County, New Mexico, where I reside, just found a tabulating
> > > error in a state-wide recount. As that recount was proceeding, Bush slowly
> > > crept ahead, first 4 votes up, then 17, and ultimately finishing with a
> > > decisive 126 votes. And then, just last night, they found that the 600 votes
> > > for Gore in one precinct here right here in Las Cruces had been transcribed
> > > and written down as 100, one person not being able to read another's writing.
> > > So, it now appears that New Mexico is firmly back in Gore's column, winning
> > > the state in a landslide, with 375 votes.
>
> --
> Larry Barnes
> Director of I.T.
> Mitek Corp.
> 602-438-4545 x1366
> Phoenix, AZ 85040
>
> Check Us Out !
> http://www.mitekcorp.com