To the editor:

We should be very cautious about joining the rush to use electronic voting. The fact is that the so-called “protection” of paper printouts is no protection at all. ANY halfway competent programmer can set it up so that the computer accurately prints out the person’s vote but records something different. For example, every fifth vote for candidate A would be recorded to candidate B. Each voter feels reassured of his or her vote. Shifting only a small percentage of the votes would avoid suspicion while at the same time effectively throwing an election.

There is a simple, and ever so much cheaper solution: paper ballots. Some of the money that would have been spent on electronics and special training could be used to hire a registered voter from both Democratic and Republican parties to count the ballots. Poll watchers could further ensure accurate counts. Challenges could easily be responded to by recounting the pieces of paper. This approach could also avoid the problems of hackers, as well as major breakdowns, which have occurred in districts that have used electronic voting and that are identified too late to enable a re-vote. Sometimes the old fashioned way is cheaper, easier and better.

Lucy Cutler,

Lawrence