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Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm GwenOuten.

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And I'm Doug Johnson. Our subject this week is the debate aboutelectronic voting.

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The presidential election of two-thousand was one of the closestin American history. But, as closely divided as the nation was, theexperience united people in a common belief. The election systemneeded reform.

Efforts to do so have centered on technology. By this November,an estimated one in three voters will use an electronic votingmachine. But many people worry that the election could be a repeatof two-thousand.

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Because of a dispute in Florida, the winner was not declared forthirty-six days. Florida counted almost six-million votes onElection Day. The Democratic Party candidate was Vice President AlGore. The Republican nominee was Texas Governor George W. Bush.

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The difference was so narrow,election officials had to count the ballots again. State law callsfor a recount when the difference is less than one-half of onepercent of the vote.

Some voters said their ballots were difficult to understand. Someballots were also difficult for older computer systems to read. As aresult, the Gore campaign requested that officials recount somedisputed ballots by hand.

The Bush campaign blocked the hand recount in federal court. Intime, the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court.

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On December fourth, the Supreme Court stopped the recount inFlorida. The court was divided five to four. The ruling, in effect,declared Mister Bush the winner. He had five-hundred-thirty-sevenmore votes in Florida. The court also declared any additionalrecounts requested by Mister Gore unconstitutional.

Nationally, Al Gore narrowly won the popular vote. But the UnitedStates uses the Electoral College system to elect presidents. Thewin in Florida meant that Mister Bush had two-hundred-seventy-oneelectoral votes. A candidate needs two-hundred-seventy to win thepresidency.

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The election dispute in Florida led the federal government totake action. In two-thousand-two, Congress passed the Help AmericaVote Act. The main purpose of this law is to help states replace oldvoting machines with modern systems. Yet there are strengths andweaknesses to every voting system.

Most Americans marked their votes on paper ballots until amachine called the Myers Automatic Booth appeared. That was ineighteen-ninety-two, in Lockport, New York. Voters entered the boothand pulled on mechanical devices to make their choices. Anotherdevice attached to the machine counted the votes.

Mechanical voting machines spread to most big cities in theUnited States by the nineteen-thirties. A lot of Americans stillvote on machines that are no longer made.

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Computers entered the American election process in the earlynineteen-sixties. These machines use a punch-card ballot that can beread by a computer. Voters strike holes to mark their choices. Theballots are then fed into a computer that uses light to count theholes.

Many parts of the country, including areas in Florida, still usedthis system during the two-thousand election.

But, when voters make their choice, a small piece of paper issometimes left over the hole. These pieces that do not fullydisconnect are called chads. Computers may not count ballots thathave what became widely known in the two-thousand election as"hanging chads."

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Electronic VotingMachine

Under the Help America Vote Act,millions of dollars are being spent to replace old punch card andmechanical voting systems. State and local governments are buyingsystems where the ballot appears on a computer screen. Voters touchthe screen to make their choices. These systems can provide resultsquickly.

But technical problems have been reported. There are alsoquestions about computer security. The worst fear is that someonedishonest might be able to steal an election.

Avi Rubin is a professor of computer science at Johns HopkinsUniversity in Maryland. He and a team of researchers say electronicvoting systems are not acceptable for the presidential election thisNovember. They argue that there are still too many problems.

Professor Rubin says electronic voting machines should berequired to print out a copy of votes. These records would be savedin case of the need for a recount, or to confirm that the systemworked correctly.

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Many organizations and political groups support this proposal.The Verified Voting Foundation and People for the American Way areurging their members to demand voter receipts in November.

And last month the League of Women Voters withdrew its supportfor electronic voting without any paper records. Members hadcriticized its position. A resolution passed by the group now callsfor "secure" and "recountable" voting systems.

Many states have proposed legislation to require a paper recordof every vote. Similar legislation has been proposed in Congress.

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Dieboldvoting system

One of the largest providers ofelectronic voting systems is Diebold, based in Ohio. Its machinesare used in Ohio, Texas and Georgia and other states. Critics ofelectronic voting note that the chief executive officer of Dieboldhas raised a lot of money for President Bush. Walden O'Dell wascriticized last August after he promised to help make sure thepresident received Ohio's electoral votes.

Mister O'Dell later expressed regret for his comments andpromised to limit his activities. And last month an Ohio newspaperreported that he went further. The Cleveland Plain Dealer said hegot company directors to bar top Diebold officials from allpolitical activity except voting.

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DeForest Soaries heads the Election Assistance Commission inWashington. Congress established this agency as a result of thetwo-thousand election. Mister Soaries was elected chairman when thecommission held its first public meeting in March of this year. Hesays states should increase the security of electronic voting inNovember.

He also says makers of electronic voting machines should releasetheir computer software. That way security experts could examine theprograms for weaknesses. And Mister Soaries has called forcollecting information about problems with the machines. He sayssteps like these would help increase public trust in electronicvoting.

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In California, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley says he wants todo just that. Mister Shelley is the chief elections official inAmerica's most populated state.

He has ordered that all electronic voting systems in Californiamust provide paper records by two-thousand-six. Until then, he wantspeople who do not trust electronic voting machines to have the rightto vote by a traditional paper ballot.

Mister Shelley has also barred the use of electronic votingmachines in some areas until they are more secure.

But some local officials are not happy. They have gone to courtto oppose his orders.

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VOICE ONE:

The push to modernize the electoral process is not just in theUnited States. Earlier this year, parliamentary elections in Indiaused electronic voting machines. Voters in Italy used electronicvoting machines last month to choose representatives to the EuropeanUnion. And voters in Venezuela will use them in August, in a specialelection to decide if Hugo Chavez will remain president.

This November, about three out of four Americans will vote on thesame equipment they used four years ago. But election officials sayit is simply a matter of time before electronic voting is much morecommon in this country.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jill Moss and produced by Caty Weaver.I'm Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Gwen Outen. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA,in VOA Special English.