Fed Agency Votes No-Confidence on Voting Machine Inspection Process

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Why are we still using electronic voting machines?

The true outcome of one election is already lost in the bowels of a computer somewhere, to which the once and future candidate, Christine Jennings, has been denied access. Even if electronic voting machines work fine, popular concern that they don’t introduces unnecessary uncertainty into the electoral process. Uncertainty that will likely grow after today’s revelation in the New York Times that the company charged with inspecting the lion’s share of voting machines, Ciber, Inc., has been barred from future inspections. Ciber Inc. cannot document that it conducted all of the required tests, and its quality-control practices are also in question. The federal Election Assistance Commission barred Ciber Inc. from conducting any further inspections this summer, but has only recently disclosed its actions. Many machines already in use were inspected by Ciber Inc., making the Commission’s reasons for waiting until after the elections to reveal the problem fairly transparent.

Would that voting were equally transparent.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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