Steven Holt: “On Election Day, how will you know if your vote is properly counted? In many precincts, in many States around this…”

“On Election Day, how will you know if your vote is properly counted? In many precincts, in many States around this country, the answer is you will not. Imagine, it is election day and you enter your polling place to cast your vote on a brand new electronic touch-screen voting machine. The screen is large; it is well lit; it is accessible if you have physical disabilities. Your choices are clearly spelled out before you. In fact, it looks as easy to use as the ATM at your bank. You breathe a sigh of relief that you no longer have to figure out a complicated butterfly ballot. It seems more modern than the old lever machines. So you make your choice and you touch the submit button and cast your vote. The screen says your vote has been counted. You exit the polling place with a sense of satisfaction, and then you begin to wonder. How do I know if the machine actually recorded my vote the way I intended? The fact is you do not. You have to trust the software in the machine to be error free. After the 2000 election, we in Congress recognized that we had to act to restore the integrity and reliability of our electoral system by making dimpled chads and other voting irregularities things of the past.”