What is it going to take to get rid of the touch screen voting machines?

[Winterblues]

If somehow McCain "wins" this election will that spur a new Boston Tea Party type event except instead of tea we throw the voting machines in the bay? That is where they belong, and I am not sure what else we could do to get Government to eliminate the damn things. I don't know anyone that actually has full confidence in them. I have full confidence in Paper Ballots counted by human beings with polling "judges" from both Parties observing all that goes on. I have zero confidence in touch screen machines. IMO the only way McCain could win at this stage is by manipulation of those machines...What can be done???

[bobbolink]

1. Spine.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. President Obama and the Legislative Branch

Then, we can work on getting the Reagan-Bush-Bush goons off the bench.

--p!

[phantom power]

3. Public awareness of their problems seems to be increasing.

How we go from being aware of the problem to making them go away (or regulating the shit out of their manufacture, deployment and use) is a good question.

I agree with you that it will have to be as a result of citizen anger and grassroots protesting. Clearly, the politicians are not going to fix it until they firmly believe that they will be voted out of office if they don't. They've had 8 years, and pretty much nothing has been done.

[jeepnstein]

4. The Diebold boxes?

They're more trouble than they're worth. You can run the same election software on a paper ballot and count votes on a optical scanner. The accounting is much better with paper ballots. The touch screen machines are to blame for many of the long lines, aren't they?

We should keep some at polling places for folks who have trouble physically filling out a paper ballot but they should be a last resort.

I like the Diebold election software, especially in the hands of a board of elections that doesn't rely on the software provider for election results. I can't say the same for their touch screen machines.

[kestrel91316]

5. Sledgehammers.

[Cleita]

6. Call them slot machines?

Then you can get the Feds to come in and bust them up? I fantasize, it's true.

[The2ndWheel]

7. A more efficient touch screen voting machine