People's computers are not getting more secure. They're getting more infected with viruses. They're getting more under the control of malware.
My position hasn't changed over the years. Which is that online voting is a very unsafe idea and a very bad idea and something I think no technological breakthrough I can foresee can ever change.
The basic idea behind a paper trail is that you take one of these electronic systems and you augment it with a printer that prints out people's vote as they vote.
Many of the touted advantages of electronic voting can still be achieved with paper ballots if you use a computerized ballot marking scheme.
If our financial industry regarded security the way the health-care sector does, I would stuff my cash in a mattress under my bed.
It's the concept of having a computer voting machine that bothers me, more so than the specific poor implementation that we have from Diebold.
I think that, you know, looking at all the systems that I've been studying over the last several years, that paper ballots with a precinct optical scan counters and random audits is the best system that we can have.
In any election, it's important that the public perceive that the election is held fairly.
