Calls on Congress to Act "Before the Inevitable Disaster"

"So here is a challenge to Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) and Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the respective chairmen of the relevant House and Senate committees: Hold some hearings, quickly, on these issues."

In his column for Roll Call this morning, "Forget Flag Burning. Tackle the Real Issues, Like Voting Machines", resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Norman Ornstein (pictured at right) called on members of Congress to address the growing crisis of unverifiable, insecure electronic voting and the threat that it poses to our democracy.

Describing election procedure and reform as an issue that is crying out for Congressional focus, Ornstein notes that in spite of the belated efforts of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), "huge problems remain in the election system, and new ones have emerged in the aftermath of HAVA. And none of the people who wrote HAVA have shown the slightest interest in addressing them."

Focussing on what he calls "the biggest flashpoint" - voting machines, Ornstein describes a  process that has "backfired because of the unintended consequences of the (well-intentioned) move to expensive modern electronic machines, mostly of the touch-screen variety." He observes, "The more experts have focused on the machines, the more vulnerabilities they have found. The more they have pointed out the problems, the more the companies that make the machines have brushed aside complaints or stonewalled about the problems."

Ornstein continues:

"Then, with suspicions raised, another issue arose — the fact that most of the DRE systems purchased by election districts come without a paper trail, making recounts questionable and adding to the distrust many feel about the machines. Many jurisdictions are now moving to equip their DREs with paper trails, but doing so is very expensive, and HAVA has not provided additional money for it."

"There is no perfect answer here. There are real questions about how vulnerable the machines really are to tampering, and we cannot forget that disasters have occurred in the past with punch cards, lever machines and other older technology. The debate is vigorous and widespread among academic and election experts. But it is virtually nonexistent in Congress."

Ornstein notes that "More and more Americans are deeply suspicious about the integrity of the system, and in this combustible environment, the last thing we need is an election in which a substantial proportion of Americans believe the outcome was rigged."