Problems with Voting
Why Voting is never Completely Accurate!!
Statement of the Problem There are several problems when it comes to elections. One of the problems is whether the candidates played fairly throughout the election. Another problem is whether the votes that are being cast are being counted correctly or even being counted at all. The main reason this topic has become such an important issue is because of the last two elections. The first election had a problem in the state of Florida, and the 2004 elections had problems in the state of Ohio.
Evidence Used in Reaching my Conclusion One of the things I would worry about in voting is how and who is counting my votes. For instance, a type of voting I would not be satisfied with is the paper ballot way of voting. The modern system of election using paper ballots was first used in 1858 in Australia. The great Australian innovation was to print standardized ballots at government expense, distribute them to the voters at the polling places, and require that the voters vote and return the ballots immediately. Today, the security against election fraud this provides seems obvious, but in the 19th century, it was not obvious to most observers, and it was not until 1888 that this ballot was used in the United States. Another type of voting that is a problem to me is the lever voting machine. Lever voting machines offer excellent voter privacy, and the feel of a lever voting machine is immensely reassuring to voters! Unfortunately, they are immense machines, expensive to move and store, difficult to test, complex to maintain, and far from secure against vote fraud. Furthermore, a lever voting machine maintains no audit trail. With paper ballots, an it is possible to recount the votes if there is an allegation of fraud. With lever voting machines, there is nothing to recount! This could be a problem also because if someone votes incorrectly and pushes the lever down at the wrong time he or she can not go back and fix that vote.
Statement of the Problem There are several problems when it comes to elections. One of the problems is whether the candidates played fairly throughout the election. Another problem is whether the votes that are being cast are being counted correctly or even being counted at all. The main reason this topic has become such an important issue is because of the last two elections. The first election had a problem in the state of Florida, and the 2004 elections had problems in the state of Ohio.
Evidence Used in Reaching my Conclusion One of the things I would worry about in voting is how and who is counting my votes. For instance, a type of voting I would not be satisfied with is the paper ballot way of voting. The modern system of election using paper ballots was first used in 1858 in Australia. The great Australian innovation was to print standardized ballots at government expense, distribute them to the voters at the polling places, and require that the voters vote and return the ballots immediately. Today, the security against election fraud this provides seems obvious, but in the 19th century, it was not obvious to most observers, and it was not until 1888 that this ballot was used in the United States. Another type of voting that is a problem to me is the lever voting machine. Lever voting machines offer excellent voter privacy, and the feel of a lever voting machine is immensely reassuring to voters! Unfortunately, they are immense machines, expensive to move and store, difficult to test, complex to maintain, and far from secure against vote fraud. Furthermore, a lever voting machine maintains no audit trail. With paper ballots, an it is possible to recount the votes if there is an allegation of fraud. With lever voting machines, there is nothing to recount! This could be a problem also because if someone votes incorrectly and pushes the lever down at the wrong time he or she can not go back and fix that vote.