Appeals Court Says Judge Needs To Look At Paper Trail Issue For E-Voting
from the check-that-again dept
Last month when a state court ruled that a Florida law mandating that there be no way to ask for a recount on an e-voting machine was illegal, supporters of current e-voting machines complained that it created an impossible situation: you can't recount votes on a machine that doesn't provide a way to recount votes. Our response, of course, was that it wasn't impossible at all, but simply proved that those machines should be illegal, since they don't conform to the law in allowing recounts. It looks like some Federal judges might agree. In a related federal case filed by a Florida politician looking to have the machines declared illegal without a paper trail, a lower court had declined to take the case -- but now the Appeals Court is sending the case back, saying they need to reopen the case. Of course, the timing is unfortunate, with the election quickly approaching. If the courts do decided that the machines are illegal it certainly will put some counties in a tough spot. What's likely to happen, of course, is that much of this will get delayed, and fair or unfair, the machines will be used in this election.
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