In today's edition of the NY Times was this article on the accuracy of machine vs. hand counts as described by the makers of vote-counting machines. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/17/politics/17MACH.html In summary, under ideal conditions the machines can be up to 99.99% accurate. Ideal conditions do not often apply, and in a 1975 Federal Election Commission study, it was found that 99.5% of the ballots were read accurately. The article continues, "Ultimately, industry officials said, the most precise way to count ballots is by hand." "'The important thing here is that there may be no way to get a 100 percent accurate count by a machine,' said Mr. Swartz, whose card readers are approved by the Federal Election Commission for use in punch-card voting systems. 'It is totally reasonable that the most accurate way to do it is a carefully run recount.'" --Robert Chung ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list and remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES are available at http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ =================================================================
