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# RE: AVTS - Voter Summary Page

- To: <support@gesn.com>
- Subject: RE: AVTS - Voter Summary Page
- From: "John McLaurin" <jmglobal@earthlink.net>
- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 22:26:52 -0500
- Importance: Normal
- In-reply-to: <3A64CEC5.8E188758@gesn.com>

Well Said Guy – there is always another side to the discussion. As my mentor often relates – there is a conspiracy around every corner. How about a toggle switch for NY, PA, NJ, OH, IL and CA to switch off the receipt printer. In all the honest states, we can leave it operating (said somewhat tongue in cheek)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-support@gesn.com [mailto:owner-support@gesn.com]On Behalf Of Guy Lancaster
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 5:44 PM
To: Support
Subject: Re: AVTS - Voter Summary Page

Displaying a summary on-screen is one thing but if before anyone considers printing a summary of how the voter voted, please read:

CFP'93 - Electronic Voting - Evaluating the Threat by Michael Ian Shamos, Ph.D., J.D.
http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/cfp93/shamos.html

---
No Receipts Allowed

If the voter is worried that the machine may not have processed her vote correctly, why doesn't it just print a receipt? After all, when I play the lottery I get a ticket, and it's that ticket alone that allows me to claim the prize.

Some candidates have figured out that it can be cheaper to pay voters directly for their votes than to spend the money campaigning and risk losing on Election Day. If you think about it, though, you might wonder how the candidate could ever know whom I voted for. What a fool he would be to pay money and never be able to verify that it had done any good. However, if the voting system printed a receipt that recorded my choices, it would violate the vote-buying prohibition of Commandment III, since I could redeem the receipt for cash from an unscrupulous candidate. (I leave
it to your political imagination to determine whether any such people exist.) Without a receipt you would think he has only my word for how I voted, but even this is not true. Every card, mark-sense and electronic system can easily be used to implement vote-buying, but not on a large scale. (I won't publish how this is done, but it is absurdly simple.) Receipts would turn the practice into a virtual epidemic.
---

Just want to make sure that we understand the implications of such a request. :-)

Guy

- References:
  - Re: AVTS - Voter Summary Page
    - From: Guy Lancaster <glanca@gesn.com>

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