New to You, or Tried and True?
Many would say that voting is the most imporant part of polictics, and for generations we've done it the same way, on paper ballots; until recently that is. Now, there's a new way to vote on Electronic Voting Machines (EMVs). Though both ways pose problems to different groups of people in the U.S. I believe that everyone could be happy if we stuck with paper voting.
Lets start with the positives of the EMVs. They're more accessible to people with diabilties, and in the United States there are more than 33.7 million people who fit that category, who are old enough to vote. That's quite a lot! Another great thing about these machines is that they come in hundreds of different languages. Whereas paper ballots only come 4-5 different languages regularly. But did you know that in the Queens area of New York alone, over 138 different languages are spoken? This is very important when it comes to the privacy we are promised as voters. If you spoke a language other than the paper ballots provided, how are you to keep your privacy? …show more content…
Voters of different ages, phsyical abilities and races were polled after using EMVs in 2003, and 97% said they had little to no trouble using them. In 2006, the same poll was taken in Utah and had nearly the same result. That sounds great until you hear about what happened in 2007, only one year later! Someone found that malicious software can be used to transfer votes on the machines from one candidate to another, without the voter knowing anything happened to their vote. Five years later a writer published an article to a national magazine stating that with minimal knowledge of electrical work and some basic tools, he was able to tamper with votes entered into the
Many would say that voting is the most imporant part of polictics, and for generations we've done it the same way, on paper ballots; until recently that is. Now, there's a new way to vote on Electronic Voting Machines (EMVs). Though both ways pose problems to different groups of people in the U.S. I believe that everyone could be happy if we stuck with paper voting.
Lets start with the positives of the EMVs. They're more accessible to people with diabilties, and in the United States there are more than 33.7 million people who fit that category, who are old enough to vote. That's quite a lot! Another great thing about these machines is that they come in hundreds of different languages. Whereas paper ballots only come 4-5 different languages regularly. But did you know that in the Queens area of New York alone, over 138 different languages are spoken? This is very important when it comes to the privacy we are promised as voters. If you spoke a language other than the paper ballots provided, how are you to keep your privacy? …show more content…
Voters of different ages, phsyical abilities and races were polled after using EMVs in 2003, and 97% said they had little to no trouble using them. In 2006, the same poll was taken in Utah and had nearly the same result. That sounds great until you hear about what happened in 2007, only one year later! Someone found that malicious software can be used to transfer votes on the machines from one candidate to another, without the voter knowing anything happened to their vote. Five years later a writer published an article to a national magazine stating that with minimal knowledge of electrical work and some basic tools, he was able to tamper with votes entered into the