Supporters of electronic voting forms say the technology produces faster and more accurate results than other types of voting equipment. Experts say the machines are not safe enough and may appear to work correctly, but to cast votes imprecisely. The following are some realities and important issues regarding electronic voting technology.
What Is E-Voting
Electronic voting, or electronic voting, refers to computerized voting machines that use electronic voting forms instead of printed ones. They are also called electronic direct recording machines, or DREs. Electronic voting machines are composed of three types: machines with a contact screen that allow voters to vote by contacting an electronic voting form on an LCD screen, machines with a keyboard that use a keyboard to make selections on a form electronic voting machines, and wheeled machines that require voters to turn a wheel and press a lock.
Optical Filter Machines
Optical filter machines use an electronic reader to record the vote, but not to design it. The machines require voters to stamp their choices on a paper voting form, which is then scanned into an electronic reader to record the vote. Since voters do not directly register their vote on the computer, the machine is not a DRE. This does not mean that the optical verification machines are free from faults and programming errors that can plague electronic voting machines. Paper voting forms, however, give authorities the ability to get in trouble if they examine voting forms by manual counting and compare them to the detriment of advanced votes.
Use Of Computers
Computers have played a role in elections since the 1960s when they were used to tabulate votes marked on punched paper cards. Optical scanning machines and drilling wrenches were additionally introduced during the 1960s and 1970s. Touch screen machines appeared during the 1990s but were not widely used until after the 2000 presidential election disaster. The problems during that election were attributed to electronic voting machines. Thus, in 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act, which, among other things, allocated about $ 4 billion to states to improve electoral procedures and replace punch-card machines with new electronic or voting machines. optical filter.
The Advantage
The numbers are changing as counties continue to improve, however, the latest measurements from Election Data Services, a political advisory firm, estimate that 29 percent of registered voters live in locations that currently use electronic voting machines. By examination, about 39 percent of voters use optical verification machines, 10 percent use punch-card machines, and about 13 percent use lever machines.
Working Of Electronic Voting Machines
Electronic voting machines contain a memory chip and a removable memory card. When voters cast their voting form, votes are recorded on the chip and the removable memory card. Near the end of an election, research workers remove the memory card and take it to a classification center, where the cards are loaded on a computer and votes are tabulated to produce informal electoral results. In the coming days, when official counts are made, electoral authorities compare the votes stored on the memory chip with the tabs on the memory cards to ensure that no one changes the votes on the cards after they have been removed from the machines.