Which 'Perceived' Problems They Are Referring To Not Exactly Clear...

Brad Friedman Byon 3/1/2008, 3:49pm PT

On Friday, USA TODAY's Richard Wolfe ran a not terrible article about the growing nationwide trend to move away from electronic voting machines to more transparent and secure paper ballot based systems. His otherwise decent article included this curious graf [emphasis added]...

From Florida to California, the nation's flirtation with electronic voting is on the rocks. More and more states and counties are reverting to paper ballots fed through optical scanners because of problems — some real, some perceived — with machines that didn't offer the level of security and transparency voters demand.

So I'm just curious. Which of the myriad, scientifically demonstrated problems with the security and transparency of electronic voting are the "perceived" ones, versus the "real" ones? Or are there some other "perceived" problems which have prompted the trend?

If your own personal house has never been robbed, yet you turn on an alarm system and/or lock the doors when you leave it, is that due to a perceived concern or a real one?

I'd really love to know Wolfe's answer.



