Maidan

Terry,
As a government IT auditor, it is inconceivable to me that paper trails are not mandated in electronic voting systems. The lack of an audit trail in any system that we audit, whether computerized or not, is regarded as a significant finding. To exempt voting systems, so crucial to the democratic process, is an outrage. You can add the recent demonstration in Florida, known as the'Harry Hurtsi Hack', of the weakness in Diebold machines to the examples in your article linked above.
The gap between exit polling and official results in the last US election should have immediately triggered a thorough investigation. Instead, it only increased pressure to eliminate exit polling by the corporate media. This, despite a long history of accuracy in predicting election results by that statistical sampling technique.
But, voting machine manipulation is only 1 of several possible techniques for influencing the outcome of an election. After the 2000 election debacle in Florida, congress passed the 'Help America Voting Act'(HAVA). Among other things, this act provides funding for updating machines and systems. It also requires states to maintain a central database of eligible voters with a consistent vetting process for eligibility. You might recall that in Florida a private firm was hired to cull the voter registration files of felons, illegal immigrants and others ineligible to vote. The company was a bit over-zealous and disqualified thousands of eligible voters.
HAVA mandates compliance by this year's election. A January 1 deadline for certain components of the law found a number of states non-compliant. One of the sticking points is the certification of admissible voting machines. The department of Justice last week threatened to sue the state of New York for their non-compliance on this issue.
Along with increased efficiencies, the increased centralization, networking and computerization of the voting systems provide more opportunities for 'managing democracy' in negative ways. Complacency of the citizenry regarding this issue will reduce the election process to 'faith-based' voting.
Later this spring, I will be involved in the auditing of HAVA compliance in my home state. I will let you know how it works out.
Joe Kozak, Austin, Texas