The New York Times has an article today, "To Register Doubts, Press Here", in which various computer scientists (including Rebecca Mercuri, of course) insist on accountability for electronic voting systems and various officials of county election boards and voting machine companies insist that there's nothing to worry about. After all, fraud was possible under the old system, so we don't need to concern ourselves with whether fraud might be easier under a new system or how we'd detect it if it occurred. And who would you rather trust, a bunch of academics who haven't even looked at the hardware or software (because they're not allowed) or the people selling the systems?
The most amusing point is that Theresa LePore is quoted in support of unauditable voting systems. You may remember her as the designer of the user-friendly butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County, Florida in 2000. This time she's explaining that lots of people come in to vote, wait patiently in multiple lines, and then turn in blank ballots because they don't want to vote for anyone.
