By Rachel Konrad
The Associated Press
Monday, September 13, 2004; 7:39 AM

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Alarmed by software glitches, security threats
and computer crashes with ATM-like voting machines, officials from
Washington, D.C., to California are considering an alternative from
an unlikely place: Nevada.

Silver State voters cast electronic ballots Tuesday on a $9.3 million
voting system with more than 2,600 computers and printers in every
county. The primary was free of serious problems that have
embarrassed registrars in Florida, California, Maryland and other
states with touchscreen machines.

"They were incredibly organized," said Marc Carrel, assistant
secretary of state in California, where several counties are
preparing to install similar equipment next year. "I think California
could pull off a similar election if we had adequate training and
education programs for poll workers and voters."

Credit the training in Nevada, and credit the printers - which give
computer scientists and voter-rights advocates assurances that
elections can be fully audited. As many as 50 million Americans
elsewhere will use paperless touchscreens this November, and critics
say hacking, malfunctioning and other problems in only a few counties
could have huge implications in a tight presidential contest.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein co-sponsored legislation
that would force hundreds of counties using touchscreens to install
printers by requiring all voting machines to produce a paper trail by
July 2006. An aide to the California Democrat said Nevada's election
marked a turning point in the contentious debate over touchscreens.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17597-2004Sep13.html

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