technical experts call for paper ballots

The non-partisan National Institute of Standards and Technology has stated the obvious: electronic voting machines "cannot be made secure." NIST's recommendations will go to the US Election Assistance Commission; we'll see what THEY do with it.

NIST suggested two alternatives: paper ballots with optical scanners (which does speed the initial count), or electronic machines that print a paper record that voters can double-check, and that can be recounted if necessary.

Fine -- but why bother with electronic voting at all if you need to print a paper confirmation? Stick with paper ballots. They are cheaper, more reliable, and (using optical scanners) quick to count and easy to recount. All our local election commissions could save big bucks by doing this -- not to mention restoring some credibility to the ballot-box in the United States of America.