Voting Machines

Table of Contents

Introduction
Non-Mechanical Voting: Paper Ballots and Viva Voce
Non-Mechanical Voting: Secret Paper Ballots
Mechanical Voting: Lever Machines
Mechanical Voting: Punch Card Machines
Electronic Voting: Mark-Sense, Optical, and Digital Scanners
Electronic Voting: Direct-Recording Electronic Machines (DRE
Electronic Voting: Ballot Marking Devices
Online Voting
Pros
- Pro 1: Current electronic voting machines with voter-verified paper audit trails are secure voting methods.
- Pro 2: History proves the reliability of electronic voting machines.
- Pro 3: Using the Internet for elections is an incredible risk the country does not need to take.
Cons
- Con 1: Current voting machines are outdated, and their software is vulnerable to domestic and foreign attacks.
- Con 2: Current voting machines are mechanically obsolete and extraordinarily expensive to repair or replace.
- Con 3: Voting machines should be replaced with Internet voting.
Historical Timeline
- 1856-1899
  - 1856 - Victoria, Australia First Place to Use Uniform Official Ballots
- 1900-1999
  - 1930 - Lever Machines in almost Every Major U.S. City
  - 1962 - Optical Scan Ballots First Used in Kern City, California
  - 1964 - Georgia Counties First to Use Punch Cards and Computer Tally Machines
  - Aug. 17, 1965 - Votomatic Punch Card Voting System Patented
  - Feb. 19, 1974 - Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting Machine Patented
  - 1975 - Streamwood and Woodstock, Illinois Use Video Voter System
  - Mar. 1975 - First US Government Report to Evaluate Computerized Voting Technology
  - May 3, 1977 - Precinct-Based Optical Scan System Patented
  - 1982 - Nebraska First to Officially Use American Information Systems (AIS) Central-Count Ballot Tabulator
  - Feb. 3, 1987 - Shouptronic ELECTronic Voting Machine Patented
  - 1988 - Report Warns of Problems with Pre-Scored Punch Cards
  - 1990 - Federal Election Commission (FEC) Releases First Standards for Computer-Based Voting
  - 1996 - First Government Election Conducted over the Internet
  - 1996 - Dr. Shamos Offers $10,000 "DRE Tampering Challenge"
- 2000-2009
  - Nov. 7, 2000 - 2000 Presidential Election Highlights Ballot Problems
  - May 2002 - FEC Updates Electronic Voting Systems Standards
  - Oct. 29, 2002 - George W. Bush Signs the Help America Vote Act
  - 2002 - US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Is Established
  - 2002 - Georgia First to Use Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting Machines Statewide
  - July 23, 2003 - First Independent Security Analysis Raises Concerns about DREs
  - Aug. 14, 2003 - Democrats Raise Questions of Propriety over Diebold Chief Executive’s Ties to George W. Bush
  - Dec. 9, 2003 - Election Systems Companies Form Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
  - Apr. 30, 2004 - California Secretary of State Decertifies All Touchscreen Electronic Voting Machines
  - May 5, 2004 - US Election Assistance Commission Holds First Public Meeting
  - July 16, 2004 - Nevada Mandates Voter-Verified Paper Audit (VVPA)
  - Nov. 2004 - North Carolina Electronic Voting Machines Lose 4,438 Votes in General Election
  - Sep. 2005 - Commission on Federal Election Reform Releases Report with Recommendations
  - Dec. 2005 - Black Box Voting Demonstrates Hackbility of Electronic Voting Systems
  - Dec. 13, 2005 - Election Assistance Committee Adopts Voluntary Voting System Guidelines
  - Jan. 1, 2006 - HAVA Implements Overvote and Accessability Requirements
  - May 11, 2006 - Black Box Voting Demonstrates Electronic Voting Machines’ "Backdoors"
  - Sep. 13, 2006 - Computer Security Expert Installs Malware on Diebold Electronic Voting Machine in Less than a Minute
  - Sep. 21, 2006 - Maryland’s Governor Urges Voters to Use Absentee Ballots over Electronic Voting Machines
  - Nov. 7, 2006 - HAVA Funds and Changes Increased Use of DREs
  - Jan. 4, 2007 - EAC Denies CIBER, Inc. Accreditation
  - Dec. 14, 2007 - EVEREST Report Finds DREs Do Not Meet Computer Industry Security Standards
  - Jan. 2008 - Florida Fair Elections Center Reports over 100,000 Florida Votes Not Counted in Nov. 2006
  - Nov. 4, 2008 - Presidential Election Runs Relatively Smoothly
- 2009-present
  - June 5, 2009 - Sequoia Voting Systems Allows Access to Technical Information about DREs
  - Sep. 3, 2009 - Diebold, Inc. Sells Election-Systems Business to Election Systems & Software, Inc. for $5 Million
  - Sep. 13, 2010 - Brennan Center Report Calls for Publicly Available National Database of Voting System Malfunctions
  - 2011 - Security Experts Hack Voting Machines by Remote Control
  - Nov. 6, 2012 - Long Lines Due to Voting Machine Malfunctions in 2012 Presidential Election
  - 2013 - New York City Returns to Lever Machines for Primary Election and Runoffs
  - July 29, 2017 - First-Ever Voting Machine "Hackathon" Reveals Many Vulnerabilities in Electronic Voting Machines and Poll Systems
Discussion Questions
Take Action
Sources

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Rows of people stand in front of voting booths, looking down and voting while others wait in line.

Black American men stand in line to cast their ballots in boxes on a table.

Thomas E. Dewey

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Photos

Rows of people stand in front of voting booths, looking down and voting while others wait in line.

Black American men stand in line to cast their ballots in boxes on a table.

Thomas E. Dewey

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Topics

election voting voting machine Felon Voting Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton Electoral College Voting Age Election Day