Democracy relies upon votes being registered and counted as voters intend. But Maryland's current voting system provides absolutely no proof that our vote counts are accurate. Since our votes are recorded directly into the computer's memory, and there is no paper record of our votes, there is no way to go back and independently verify that the machine recorded our intent accurately.

• In Sarasota County, FL, in November 2006, one congressional candidate "won" by less than 400 votes, but over 18,000 voters, failed to vote for the hotly contested race. In other words, the machines failed to record a vote for one of the most important State election races in over 18,000 cases. There is no way to recover those lost votes short of holding a new election.
• In Anne Arundel County, MD, where a candidate won by only 28 votes, the losing candidate initially conceded, saying that she was unable to conduct a "meaningful recount" of the election results. She has since challenged the counting of the absentee ballots in court.

The federal body that sets the guidelines for voting equipment nationwide is debating whether to ban this type of electronic voting machines altogether because they provide no independent means to verify that the vote counts are accurate.

Computer experts and election reform advocates agree that the best way to ensure accurate election results is with a paper record of the votes, verified by each voter, that can be used to audit the vote-counting machines.

Legislation to require this in Maryland has failed for the past 3 years, largely because there is no way to add a paper trail to MD's current machines. The solution to this problem will require us to buy new equipment, which the state is reluctant to do after having spent more than $100 million to buy these machines.

However, replacing our current machines with a much more reliable voting system would pay for itself in less than 5 yrs in annual operating cost savings alone. Several counties in the US have decided to replace their touch screen voting equipment with “precinct-based optical scanners” based on cost as well as reliability.

With precinct-based optical scanners, voters hand-mark a paper ballot, which they then feed into a scanning machine to be counted. The machine tells them if they have selected too many or too few choices for any contest on the ballot and allows them to make corrections. Disabled voters can either use a ballot marking station to mark their ballots or various other kinds of solutions such as a phone-based system.

About 40% of Americans now vote using precinct-based optical scanners. A Gonzales Research poll last April showed that 58% of Maryland voters preferred op-scans to touch-screen voting machines. Most Maryland counties used op-scan equipment until 2004.

Another advantage is that they eliminate the long lines at polling places because the number of voters who can vote at once is not limited by the availability of voting machines-- all a voter needs is a #2 pencil and a private place to mark the ballot.

The burden of paying for the maintenance, repair, technical support, programming, storage, and other related costs of the voting machines will fall on the shoulders of our county governments this upcoming year. However, these related costs will be lower if each county used the op-scan machines, which in turn will give them more money to pay for education, public safety, hospitals, transportation, libraries, parks, and other basic necessities.

"NASA spent millions to design a pen that would write in zero gravity. The Russians brought pencils." Sometimes the most high-tech solution is not necessarily the best solution.

Will you join us in working for a better solution for MD's voting system that will ensure more reliable election results while also allowing our counties to spend our tax dollars more wisely on the urgent needs that impact our daily lives? Please support the call for a change to a paper trail voting system in the coming 2007 legislative session so that we can have an accurate and verifiable system in place before the 2008 Presidential Election.