<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB109407788036007336,00.html>
The Wall Street Journal September 2, 2004 DIGITS States Continue to Debate Merits of Paper Trail For E-Voting Machines September 2, 2004; Page B4 Paper or Plastic? In the race to use electronic-voting machines that produce a paper copy of the ballots cast, Nevada has become the front-runner in this presidential election year. For the past two weeks, new touch-screen machines with printers attached have been used by more then 50,000 Nevadans in early voting for the state's Sept. 7 primary for in-state offices. Come November, the state will be the first to roll out such a system for a presidential election. "A lot of people didn't think we could pull it off in time," says Steve George, spokesman for Secretary of State Dean Heller, who in December mandated the new systems from Sequoia Voting Systems, a unit of De La Rue PLC. "It certainly seems like a very wise choice when you look at some of the problems the electronic systems have had." Those problems -- faulty software, security glitches and human errors -- are certain to get even more scrutiny as the latest presidential contest goes down to the wire. Several swing states, including Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico and Tennessee, will use electronic systems with no paper trail. But Ohio's secretary of state has barred the purchase of new electronic-voting machines beyond the five counties where they are already installed. New regulations in California mandate that every voter have an option to use a paper ballot, providing the so-called paper-or-plastic choice. Such moves have hampered the adoption of touch-screen voting machines. After the 2000 presidential election imbroglio, experts predicted 50% of voters would use this year. Now it appears less than 30% will do so. "We've slowed the train down," says Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, an election watchdog. The existence of a paper trail raises as many questions as it answers. In Nevada, many voters in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, will cast ballots on older electronic machines without printers, meaning there won't be a complete paper record of the state's votes. And the paper read-outs don't yet conform to the state's legal format, meaning they can't be used in an official recount without court approval. Mr. George says that won't be a problem if a dispute arises over Nevada's five electoral votes. "If it's a choice between hitting the button again for the electronic total and the paper record, it stands to reason the court would choose to go with the paper record," he says. Vintage 6.0 No wine is fine before its time. And the same could be true for Wine.com1, an online wine site that certainly has had a long shelf life. Since its launch in the late 1990s, the online retailer has morphed from an earlier version of the Wine.com site, as well as from start-up enterprises called WineShopper and eVineyard. Together the start-ups have raised about $150 million in venture capital, according to President and Chief Executive George Garrick. This week the company is announcing it has raised more: Its sixth, "Series F" financing to the tune of $20 million. The money comes from a syndicate led by Baker Capital in New York. The company said it will use it to retire debt, to upgrade the Web site and for marketing. So what's new this time? The latest vintage basically is the eVineyard enterprise that was restarted in 2002, after the company bought the Wine.com name and customer list. But, says Mr. Garrick, "We've taken a very by-the-numbers, conservative approach" -- much more sensible and lean. He adds that the company go to great effort to comply with the complex, interstate laws that regulate the shipping of alcohol. The San Francisco-based retailer can legally ship to 26 states. Those states "account for 75% of wine consumption," Mr. Garrick says. Tech Tracker? If the Webby Awards are a barometer for the tech industry, the bust may officially be over. The Webbys, which honor outstanding Web sites run by reviewers, cultural institutions and schools, among others, is more than doubling the number of its prize categories, to 65 from 30. The reason: to include categories for new online phenomena such as blogs and social networking. Other new prize categories include sites devoted to getting a job or finding real estate and those run by nonprofits. The expansion of the award categories parallels the growth of the Internet, says Tiffany Shlain, founder of the online awards. "The Web has changed dramatically since we started it," she says. The Webbys, usually held in San Francisco, were dubbed the Oscars of the Internet industry when they started in 1996. But during the past two years, organizers opted against holding a live awards show, in response to the weak economy, the Iraq war and the SARS outbreak of last summer. Now, the mood has changed, Ms. Shlain says, pointing to the recent Google IPO and the heavy use of the Internet in this year's presidential campaign. The Webbys will again be presented live next year, with a ramped-up marketing and advertising effort, along with the addition of the categories. Grand Old Phone Talk about wired. For this week's Republican National Convention in New York City, Verizon Communications supplied 40,000 miles of cabling, two central offices, 12,000 phone lines and 300 high-speed data connections -- not to mention 300 technicians. Verizon, the incumbent phone company in New York, also installed 140 TV circuits for the event, providing video transmission from several spots around the convention to national and international TV networks including al-Jazeera -- making it the largest video transmission project the company has ever set up. The data network is capable of downloading the entire content of Encyclopedia Britannica in roughly one minute and eight seconds, according to Verizon. The company also handled much of the Democratic National Convention's communications in Boston, though it installed far fewer video transmission lines there. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
