One area we are not addressing in voting security is absentee ballots. The use of absentee ballots is rising in US elections, and is even being advocated as a way for individuals to get a printed ballot in jurisdictions which use electronic-only voting machines. Political parties are encouraging their supporters to vote absentee. I believe that one election in Oregon was recently held entirely with absentee ballots. For classic polling place elections, one strength of an electronic system which prints paper ballots is that there are two separate paths for the counts. The machine can keep its own totals and report them at the end of the election. These totals can then be compared with the totals generated for that precinct by counting the paper ballots. This redundancy seems to me to provide higher security than either system alone. Cheers - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | "There's nothing so clear as a | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | vague idea you haven't written | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | down yet." -- Dean Tribble | Los Gatos, CA 95032