Comments on: VOTING MACHINES http://www.mikecritelli.com/2008/08/19/voting-machines/ Mike Critelli's Blog Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:35:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Bill Hibbard http://www.mikecritelli.com/2008/08/19/voting-machines/comment-page-1/#comment-3413 Bill Hibbard Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:55:22 +0000 http://www.mikecritelli.com/2008/08/19/voting-machines/#comment-3413 Great post, Mike. The stakes are so high in elections that unscrupulous people will exploit opportunities to cheat. The efficiency of voting machines creates opportunities to cheat efficiently. Give me paper ballots and legions of gray-haired people manning the polling places. Poor people are often disenfranchised by long lines at under-equipped polling places. Voting by mail is a way to address that problem. Great post, Mike. The stakes are so high in elections that unscrupulous people will exploit opportunities to cheat. The efficiency of voting machines creates opportunities to cheat efficiently. Give me paper ballots and legions of gray-haired people manning the polling places.

Poor people are often disenfranchised by long lines at under-equipped polling places. Voting by mail is a way to address that problem.

]]> By: Mike Critelli http://www.mikecritelli.com/2008/08/19/voting-machines/comment-page-1/#comment-3412 Mike Critelli Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:55:45 +0000 http://www.mikecritelli.com/2008/08/19/voting-machines/#comment-3412 I think your question about "voting systems" might be more appropriately directed to the companies that produce election management software and machinery like direct recording electronic (aka touch screen) voting machines and optical scan ballot readers. Those are the main technologies used to record and tabulate votes in the U.S. and are what most people commonly refer to as "proprietary voting systems." Pitney Bowes' Relia-Vote technology is not a system used to record or tally votes, it is a suite of standard mail processing equipment (inserting, printing, scanning and sorting) that is used to help ensure that ballots are mailed efficiently and accurately. Once the completed mail ballots are returned to election officials, our equipment is often used to help scan signatures on ballot envelopes so officials can visually compare the signatures on mail ballots to the original signatures stored on voter registration records before a ballot is accepted and sent to the counting room. We are pleased that our Relia-Vote technology helps make mail balloting more cost effective for election administrators, but perhaps most importantly for us, we are proud that it provides additional audit tools to help ensure prompt delivery of mail ballots, detect fraudulent or duplicate ballots, and reduce the physical labor and errors associated with hand-processing large volumes of mail ballot envelopes. I think your question about “voting systems” might be more appropriately directed to the companies that produce election management software and machinery like direct recording electronic (aka touch screen) voting machines and optical scan ballot readers. Those are the main technologies used to record and tabulate votes in the U.S. and are what most people commonly refer to as “proprietary voting systems.”

Pitney Bowes’ Relia-Vote technology is not a system used to record or tally votes, it is a suite of standard mail processing equipment (inserting, printing, scanning and sorting) that is used to help ensure that ballots are mailed efficiently and accurately.

Once the completed mail ballots are returned to election officials, our equipment is often used to help scan signatures on ballot envelopes so officials can visually compare the signatures on mail ballots to the original signatures stored on voter registration records before a ballot is accepted and sent to the counting room.

We are pleased that our Relia-Vote technology helps make mail balloting more cost effective for election administrators, but perhaps most importantly for us, we are proud that it provides additional audit tools to help ensure prompt delivery of mail ballots, detect fraudulent or duplicate ballots, and reduce the physical labor and errors associated with hand-processing large volumes of mail ballot envelopes.

]]> By: Tom Poe http://www.mikecritelli.com/2008/08/19/voting-machines/comment-page-1/#comment-3410 Tom Poe Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:25:41 +0000 http://www.mikecritelli.com/2008/08/19/voting-machines/#comment-3410 Does your system guarantee it will be subject to public scrutiny? My understanding is that proprietary voting systems do not. Does your system guarantee it will be subject to public scrutiny? My understanding is that proprietary voting systems do not.

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