Will computers eat their votes?

Machines crash, lose results, leave no paper trail Critics see a train wreck ahead — and not just in Florida

LYNDA HURST - Aug. 29, 2004

The debacle of the Florida recount in 2000 may look like the good old days come the even more hotly contested U.S. presidential election this November.

Punch-card ballots won't be to blame this time.

The infamous paper "chads" that caused such vituperative chaos when the Democrats demanded recounts in several counties are no more.

In an embarrassed flurry of modernization, the State That Couldn't Vote Straight has gone high-tech.

Like 35 million other Americans in 29 states, voters in 15 of Florida's largest counties — including Miami-Dade, ground zero of suspicious recounts last time — will be casting their ballots electronically on ATM-like touch-screen computers, with nary a paper ballot in sight.

A failsafe solution?

Not a chance. A fast-growing anti-electronic movement spearheaded by computer scientists says an electoral train wreck is in the works for Nov. 2.

And it won't be confined to Florida. They say touch screens have repeatedly been tested in various state elections over the past two years with disastrous results.

Read More >>