Cringley’s answer to the voting problem

Robert X. Cringley, Why The Best Voting Technology May Be No Technology At All:

To vote, you write an “X” with a pencil in a one centimeter circle beside the candidate’s name, fold the ballot up and stuff it into a box. Later, the scrutineers AND ANY VOTER WHO WANTS TO WATCH all sit at a table for about half an hour and count every ballot, keeping a tally for each candidate. If the counts agree at the end of the process, the results are phoned-in and everyone goes home. If they don’t, you do it again. Fairness is achieved by balanced self-interest, not by technology.

This is a well-reasoned article with a simple solution to the voting problem. I’m a tech guy, so I tend to think of tech solutions. But, I must admit, that what he’s proposing does sound likely to reduce the chance of tampering. Even if getting results takes a little longer and costs a little more (which Cringley seems to think is not the case), I’m in favor of results that are more tamper proof.