----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2001 2:03
PM
Subject: RE: AccuVote R6 & Cancel
Button
No, the
poll worker would put the voter's smart card into their nifty little spyrus,
and see that it wasn't voted. No problem. (Ken)
What happens if the voter simply returns the voter
card, and goes home for lunch before coming back. Or could leave
the building to re-read a measure and come back 3 hours later. Where's
the voter card at that point? Long gone.
They
decide to go to lunch without voting and without mentioning it to a
pollworker? If you really believe this isn't an absurd example,
then you are going to need a Spyrus at the gate to confirm that people have
actually voted. You'd need it to catch people who are given cards but
don't even put them in the machine, nevermind those who put them in and
then cancel.
I guess that means you'll also put the "status" of the
voter card into VCProgrammer using the Axion
With
VCProgrammer we can do all kinds of neat things. We could even
track that your indecisive-lunch-voter canceled their ballot when the
card is recycled through VCProgrammer. When they return from lunch,
VCProgrammer knows they canceled and a new card is issued. I suppose you
are now going to tell me that she the took the canceled card
with her and then lost it at lunch. Fair enough; I don't have
all the answers. We are probably also going to have
multiple-personality voters who swear they were never in to vote this morning,
and demand a new smart card. We'll probably need to check the ADA
act for provisions here.
and the Journada as well.
The Jornada is exactly like the Spyrus, except
that the Jornada is 16 times as expensive, and the Spyrus is easier to
use.
But you are ignoring my central thesis. The
voter can find and use the hidden cancel button. They will.
So will Shamus, Craft, and the LA Times. If you believe they won't,
then let's have the aformentioned written paragraph to this effect, and
move on. Myself, I wouldn't design a voting system based on this
premise, but hey, that's me.
Ken