Replying to a message of Ross Sauer to Bob Ackley:

 RS> "Bob Ackley -> Ross Sauer"  wrote in
 RS> news:30984$POL_INC{at}JamNNTPd:

 RS>>> Something stinks in the South Carolina senate race, and it isn't
 BA>>   a pig RS> farm.

 RS>>> Latest news, in 25 precincts, more votes were counted by those
 RS>>> furshlugginer ESS voting computerized no-confirmation machines,
 BA>>   than RS> there were votes cast.

 BA>> And people are surprised that I oppose completely computerizing the
 BA>> voting process.

 RS> You aren't the only one.
 RS> The same companies that make computerized voting machines make ATM
 RS> machines.

 RS> ATM machines are used *FAR* more often than a voting machine, so why
 RS> can't they give voters a paper receipt, like ATM machines do?

It doesn't even have to be a receipt, just a paper record kept inside the box like
cash registers (and ATMs) do.  Most folks don't know that cash registers keep a
carbon of the register receipt, and that the managers can go through that tape
to find problems.  It's called an 'audit trail.'

 RS> Also, voting machines have been found to be hackable, without any
 RS> difficulty.

One easy way is to simply pre-load some number of votes before the polls open.
If discovered - as in more votes counted than there were voters who checked in -
it was simply test data that was 'inadvertently' left on the machine.  Of course,
there's no way to factor out those preloaded numbers after the voting starts.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+