What We Must Do

Move toward voter verified ballot recording

The voter must be able to inspect his or her ballot, as recorded by the voting system and as it will be or has been counted.

    - We know how to do this with paper!

    - It might be possible with electronics!

Two models of voter verified paper audit trails

The frog model:

    The voting machine issues a machine readable paper
    ballot; if the voter agrees with it, the voter
    drops it in a ballot-tabulator (the ballot box).
    -- Populex, Vogue make these now!

The Mercuri model:

    The voting machine displays the paper ballot behind
    glass; if the voter agrees, it falls into the ballot
    glass; box, if not, it is invalidated and retained.
    -- Avante makes these now!

With either model,

we culd still conduct a trustworthy election even if "Satan himself designed the voting machines."
    David Dill, Apr 23, 2003