Broken Ballots: Will Your Vote Count? (Center for the Study of Language and Information) - Softcover

Broken Ballots begins with a comprehensive history of the use of technology in elections,starting with mechanical voting machines in the 19th century. Many of the problems that emerged then continue to plague modern electronic voting machines. The authors go on to illustrate how both legislation and the regulatory structure governing voting equipment have been ineffective at addressing technological risks - risks that frequently outstrip the understanding of election administrators and regulators. The result has been a series of failures where there is reason to doubt that the official vote count correctly reflected the intent of the voters. Both Democrats and Republicans have been the victims of these failures. The book ends with a prescriptive summary that includes recommendations for policies and legislation to better protect the democratic process.

Douglas W. Jones has taught computer science at the University of Iowa since 1980. He has chaired the Iowa Board of Examiners for Voting Machines and Electronic Voting Systems. After the contested 2000 presidential election,he was called to testify before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the House Science Committee, and others. Since 2000, he has had little time to devote to anything but elections.

Barbara Simons is retired from IBM Research and a former President of ACM, the nation's oldest and largest educational and scientific society for computing professionals. Her involvement with computerized voting began with her appointment to the National Workshop on Internet Voting, convened at the request of President Clinton. She has since written, testified, and spoken extensively about voting-related issues.

Douglas W. Jones is on the computer science faculty at the University of Iowa.