In an attempt to reform the voting process following November's election, Wisconsin legislators prepare to grapple with the controversial prospect of electronic voting.
\The state is moving away from the paper ballot and towards a more scanner-like machine,"" said State Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison.
This type of machine allows for an electronic count of the votes while keeping the reassurance of a paper trail, Risser said. The paper trail that has existed in many states throughout the voting process enabled a recount in instances such as the Florida controversy in 2000.
""After the 2000 debacle, Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a task force that recommended the use of an optical- scan system much like the one that was used by much of Wisconsin in this year's election,"" said State Rep.Spencer Black, D-Madison.
The optical-scan system was audited by the voting task force in Florida and officials reported votes counted electronically were relatively close to those counted by hand, Black said.
""One major con of electronic voting is the possibility of software problems. In North Carolina they lost 45,000 votes,"" said Phyllis Hasbrouk, a member of the Madison chapter of Prove It on Paper, a national organization for the elimination of voting fraud.
Although many lawmakers feel a paper trail is a good source for erasing doubt in an election, Hasbrouk said a paper trail should not be turned to after an election is questioned, but instead should remain the actual source of counted votes.
An electronic voting system would allow disabled voters to participate in the election process without assistance, Hasbrouk said.
The area of major argument in electronic voting is the expense of moving to a touch-screen system, the possibility of fraud and the trust of the general public for the system.
""There is no real reason to go to [touch-screen systems]. Experts say that the machines are subject to tamperin which, even if untrue, would undermine public confidence in the results of the election,"" Black said.
One area of agreement in the voting process is the federally ordered statewide voting process, which mandates a statewide list of registered voters by Jan. 1, 2006.
The process of forming this list will either be taken over by state workers or will be outsourced to a private company.
""I feel public employees should be used. These people have been hired by the community, they work here, pay taxes here and are held more accountable,"" Black said.
