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Slideshow: Voting Machine Leaves Paper Trail

One of the largest companies producing electronic voting machines has released a prototype that can produce paper ballots. It's a feature that many computer scientists and election officials have demanded as a way to check that every vote is counted. By Joanna Glasner.
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In response to concerns raised by election officials and security-minded techies, one of the largest makers of touch-screen voting machines has introduced a prototype capable of producing paper ballots. The machine is currently in beta testing, but it is based on suggestions and advice from elections administrators.Jeremy Barna

See related story: Voting Machine Leaves Paper Trail

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The idea behind this touch-screen voting machine is to provide a voter-verifiable ballot to ensure that votes are not lost because of a computer malfunction or tampering.

Jeremy Barna
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After votes are entered, a copy of a printed ballot appears behind a clear plastic screen. A voter can look at the printed ballot and press a button to submit it or to make changes. Submitted ballots get dropped in a box at the bottom of the machine for later counting.

Jeremy Barna
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Computing experts worry that hundreds of thousands of direct-recording electronic voting machines used in elections nationwide do not provide an auditable paper trail that records individual votes. In order to ensure that votes are not lost because of a computer malfunction or tampering, critics say DRE machines should be able to print and store individual ballots immediately after a vote is cast.

Jeremy Barna