Category: default || By jt3y

About 90 percent of Americans have a checking or savings account, according to the Federal Reserve Bank and the FDIC. How many would be happy if they no longer received a statement, either in paper on online? And if the bank no longer gave them a receipt for their deposits?

"We're bankers," the bank would say. "Of course you can trust us."

I'm guessing a lot of people would start burying their money in mayonaisse jars under the back porch.

Or what if your company stopped itemizing your paychecks?

"We're doing your deductions accurately," your boss would say. "Don't worry. We'd never cheat you. Honest."

Bet you wouldn't work there very long.

So why would you want to vote on a voting machine that leaves no records and can never be checked?

In the wake of the 2000 Florida election debacle, the U.S. Congress rammed through legislation outlawing several kinds of voting machines, including the old lever machines popular in Western Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania officials have given blanket approvals to only three types of voting machines for use in the state --- eight others have been certified "with restrictions."

None of the approved machines leave a paper trail that can be audited. All of them use proprietary software that, for competitive reasons, the companies will not release for public inspection.

The feds have offered millions of dollars to Allegheny, Westmoreland and other counties to upgrade their voting machines --- but only if they jump and approve one of these "black box" systems right now.

This is a little like the car salesman who says that if you don't buy today, you're not going to get that super low price and the big factory rebate. And as you drive off the lot in your new chariot, you notice that the seat hurts your back and that the A/C smells like a cat with a weak bladder.

Conspiracy theorists are het up about this because two of the companies pushing these voting machines --- Diebold Inc. and ES&S --- have close ties to the Republican Party. The CEO of Diebold was one of the biggest fund-raisers for President Bush's re-election effort in Ohio in 2004, and promised to "deliver" that state to the Republicans. Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Hegel of Nebraska is the former chairman of ES&S's parent company, and still a major investor.

And Diebold and ES&S are the only two companies that have bid on the contract to replace Allegheny County's voting machines.

Personally, I don't see conspiracy here. I see incompetence and a rush to judgment. But I can understand why the conspiracy theorists have plenty of ammunition --- it's funny how all of the decisions are benefiting the party in power.

I'm less worried about the possibility of Diebold or ES&S trying to fix an election than I am about their machines going flooie and miscounting or not counting a bunch of votes. Most of these systems run on Windows-based computers, and it seems like every week, some new security flaw is found in Windows.

I wouldn't want a Windows-based computer doing anything critical --- imagine having a Windows-based pacemaker, for instance: "The application right_ventricle.exe has committed a fatal error and has shut down. The right atrium is in use by an unknown device. Abort, retry, bury?"

I guess the question is, do you trust Bill Gates with your democracy? (Personally, I don't trust him with my checkbook or my photos of the Dayton Hamvention, but that's me.)

The lever machines we use now are a lot of things --- 40 years old, complicated to maintain, large to store and heavy to transport. But they also work something like an old mechanical adding machine; when you pull the levers and press the button to record your vote, they print out a running tally on a long paper receipt. (That's what all the noise and clanking of gears means.) It also clicks up the totals on a mechanical counter.

So long as the machine doesn't run out of paper or ink, or jam, it will constantly record the votes. The paper record allows it to be audited later on for accuracy. And even if the power goes off, big levers allow the machines to be hand-cranked.

I'm not arguing for keeping those beasts, by the way. But I find it astonishing that in a country where you can go to Sheetz, order an MTO hoagie via the computer, and get a receipt confirming your toppings, that we can't seem to build a reliable electronic voting machine that leaves a paper trail.

It also astonishes me that more Pennsylvanians aren't upset about this. It's not too complicated to understand. It affects every single registered voter in the state, let alone the nation.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato is planning to announce his "preferred vendor" at tonight's county council meeting. Since both systems the county is considering are lousy, this is like deciding how you'd prefer to die --- suffocation or eaten by alligators?

Democrats and some Republicans are planning to pass a motion tonight directing the county's Board of Elections to consider other alternatives.

That's got Onorato steamed (I heard him interviewed on the radio the other day, and he sounded madder'n a wet hen) because the county could lose $12 million in federal cash if it doesn't buy the new machines this month.

But I tend to agree with Republican Councilman Vince Gastgeb, who tells the Post-Gazette, "If you make a mistake, it's going to cost a lot more than $12 million."

Yeah --- it could cost your favorite candidate (Democrat, Republican, or Whig, for that matter) an election some day.

Email or phone your county councilman or councilwoman today and urge them to support this motion.

In Our Fair City, Dravosburg, Duquesne, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Township, Forward Township, Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln, Port Vue, South Versailles Township, Versailles, West Mifflin and White Oak, it's Jay Jabbour (cljabbour@county.allegheny.pa.us or 412-350-6565).

In Braddock, Braddock Hills, Chalfant, East McKeesport, Monroeville, North Braddock, North Versailles Township, Pitcairn, Rankin, Swissvale, Trafford, Turtle Creek, Wall, Whitaker and Wilmerding, it's Dr. Chuck Martoni (cmartoni@county.allegheny.pa.us or 412-350-6560).