Can't touch this

Touch-screen voting machines continue to make the news. Never in a nice way, it seems. But while Florida certainly has had its problems with the buggers, it appears all that is behind them now, or so we can gather from a Sun-Sentinel article for February 14.

State elections officials banned any attempt to recount votes cast on touch-screen voting machines Friday, reversing an earlier decision as counties prepare for the presidential primary less than a month away.

During the recount of January's close legislative election in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the state decided to leave it up to each county whether to print out images of each ballot from the voting machines.

But that led to concern among county officials that candidates could challenge election results and lead to uncertainty if each county handled a recount differently during a major election. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled at the end of the 2000 election that the differing standards used in Florida's highly watched recount violated the Constitution.

Under its new ruling, the state Elections Division concluded that counties are not permitted to print out ballots. State law requires uniform standards and sets none when it comes to counties with touch-screen ballots because there is no way to discern voter intent other than what is registered on the computer, the state concluded. ...

The state election administrators concluded that the Legislature was aware that there could be no manual recount with the ATM-style machines when legislators rewrote election law after the 2000 election. The only work needed during a recount with the machines is to recalculate individual totals from each machine to ensure there is no mathematical error.

I love the part about being concerned that candidates might challenge elections results. Oh, the horror!

The solution isn't a solution at all, in fact it's closer to a cover-up. Mathematical errors in totalling are the least likely sort to crop up. Software glitches, improper initial settings, memory conflicts, misalignment between the touchscreen itself and the software recording where the touch was, even malicious manipulation, these are far more likely than a computer error in simple arithmetic, which is in fact extremely unlikely. Yet the latter is the only kind that can be examined under the state' ruling.

It's like those muffler "lifetime warranties" that when you look at them don't cover pipes, clamps, connectors, or labor; nothing, that is, except the muffler itself, which is the least likely part to go wrong. And if it does, just try to get a replacement without being told that a lot of uncovered exhaust and tail pipe has to be replaced as well.

But I'm being unfair. After all, Florida hasn't had trouble with elections and recounts, has it? Well, okay, I meant with touch screen voting. Well, yeah, but, not recently. Okay, then! Not since the last time they were used! Okay? Okay, then.