How to protect your votes from going AWOL
Chicago--The Illinois Ballot Integrity Project offers this advice to voters:
1) Vote on paper, not on a touch-screen.
2) Vote in person, not by mail.
3) Vote on election day, not earlier.
4) Report election abuses! (If you live in Illinois, see the list of hotlines at http://ballot-integrity.org/callin.htm Also, please post a public report at http://ballot-integrity.org/blog )
Ballots cast in this way are less subject to loss, damage, or alteration than ballots that spend more time out of public view.
Touch-screen machines are particularly prone to malfunction. Though they are designed to produce a paper receipt for backup, this safeguard is deficient.
* Receipts rarely get used to check the machine count.
* Most voters do not confirm their receipt.
* Many receipts turn out to be defective.
* A machine's data and receipts can be replaced wholesale once the machine is out of sight.
Protect your votes from going AWOL. Vote in person, and ask for a paper ballot.
[An earlier version of this article appeared in OpEdNews on January 28, 2008.]
