Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Editorial: Goode won't get a real recount
Without a paper trail in the 5th District, officials can only double-check their arithmetic.
From the RoundTable blog
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Virgil Goode had every right to request a recount in the closely contested 5th Congressional District. He deserves one, too, but he won't get it. Virginia's election rules are set up to prevent a genuine recount.
Most voters in Goode's district cast their ballots using touch-screen voting machines. Votes are stored in computer memory without a physical record. There is no voter-verified paper trail, only the machine's tally.
After the election, officials collected the tallies from each machine, added them up and declared Tom Perriello the winner.
There is not much to recount. Officials will double check their math, but that's about it. Three years ago, a similar "recount" in the attorney general's race netted only 37 votes.
Unlike three years ago, though, officials in the 5th will rerun optical scan ballots through counting machines. That sounds more meaningful than it is. If someone colored outside a bubble or failed to erase properly, her vote still probably will not count even if her intent would be clear to the human eye.
A recount should ensure each vote counts. Virginia's system eschews messy, potentially controversial recounts in favor of streamlined doubt about accuracy and fairness.
The General Assembly last year recognized the deficiency of electronic voting without paper trails. It forbade localities from buying new machines, but existing machines may remain in service.
The reason is simple: No one wants to pay to replace them. Communities that went with optical scan to begin with do not want to subsidize those that chose unverifiable technology. Meanwhile, those that chose touch-screens do not want to admit they wasted millions and shell out millions more.
So lawmakers refuse to mandate conversion. With the state strapped for cash, Virginians should not get their hopes up that will change next year.
Maybe, though, when the General Assembly gathers in January, the second high-profile recount in three years will finally prompt some rules for genuine, audited recounts within the limitations of the existing technology.
