Maryland malfunctions

Maryland is holding hearings to discuss their new electronic voting machines. They have done nothing to enact safety measures recommended earlier this year by the state computer security consultant. Maryland officials are saying it is too late now.

Folks in Maryland suggest giving voters a choice between paper and electronic ballots. The state says that's a waste of breath as well:

But Assistant Attorney General Michael Berman argued that paper ballots are more error-prone than the electronic system. He recalled problems with punch-card ballots in Florida during the 2000 presidential election and questioned the wisdom of fearing "theoretical security vulnerabilities that have never materialized."

In other words, why worry about something that could happen until it actual does happen. It's only your vote we're talking about here.

Some problems that have materialized so far:

A Montgomery County Democratic election judge, Mary von Euler, said that when one voter tried to vote for a specific delegate to the Democratic National Convention, another delegate's name was continually high lighted.

And Jeffrey Liss, a lawyer who lives in Chevy Chase, said that when he voted at his polling place, the U.S. Senate race never appeared on his screen. Officials later unplugged that machine, he said. Liss said he asked to be allowed to vote again but was refused. He was eventually given a provisional ballot, which he later learned was never counted.

See, those things didn't happen to you personally and cause your disenfranchisement, so why should you personally worry about them? Besides, it's only your vote for President or Senator, it's not something important like American Idol or Last Comic Standing. Just relax, okay?