This afternoon a state appellate panel in Albany is hearing a case to reinstate a good government group lawsuit against the state Board of Elections for wrongly allowing new voting machines that dispense with the indispensable needed for a secure franchise: paper ballots.
Yes, good old paper is the best and only way to have foolproof elections. It is something that Donald Trump has long insisted on and he is entirely correct. Unlike computers, paper can’t be hacked.
Following the 2000 Bush/Gore debacle in Florida, a joint MIT/Caltech review concluded that paper ballots filled out by voters and fed by voters in scanning machines was the optimal method. If there is a problem or a close contest, just open up the machines and hand count the paper. That is now the law in New York.
The new gizmo, called the ExpressVote XL, is made by the same firm that manufactures the scanning machines now used by New York City and many other counties in the state, Election Systems & Software. But while we like the ES&S scanners, we vote thumbs down on the ExpressVote XL…