Related articles:

Touch-screen voting machine needs an OK Touch voting machines get OK Use of voting machines not up to him, judge says County supervisors authorize touch-screen voting machines for disabled

Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President

The Star editorial on touch-screen voting had a glaringly obvious piece of information missing from it. Will the new voting machines have a paper trail? The editorial mentioned hand counts will be used to verify the accuracy of the machines, but it did not say whether these would be hand counts of the actual machine records or just traditional paper ballots.

Demanding that polling machines have a paper trail is an extremely reasonable and inexpensive way to allay voters' worries of polling inaccuracy. I am shocked that the Star did not include this crucial bit of information in its opinion piece.

The Star's editorial on voting machines misses the big picture. Diebold counts more than 80 percent of our nation's vote. With 2,000 employees in Utah, it had total control. Pima County keeps us chickens out of the hen house, but the fox rules inside, unchecked and unaccountable.

We have outsourced our elections for exploitation by vendors. Neither the county nor voters can detect stealthy insider electronic manipulation or surveil secret software. President Reagan quoted a Russian proverb and said "trust but verify."

What are our votes worth? They are priceless.

The Star proudly proclaims Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry's 50-page memo as the basis for its demand that the Board of Supervisors approve new Diebold voting machines for use in the September primary election, but nowhere in its lengthy editorial does the Star describe specific test results or actual testing of the machines done by the county.

Although the Star touts the new Arizona law requiring random hand audits of voting machine tabulations, it fails to mention that the law cannot take effect until approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, an event that might not occur in time for the audits to be implemented for the September primary.

This editorial reads like a paid advertisement for Diebold. What happened to the Star's Constitutionally-protected role as defender of the public interest?

I see that the Star has endorsed the use of touch-screen voting machines. At a time when voters desperately need to believe that their votes count, this is exactly the wrong direction.

It has been demonstrated that these machines are easily hacked and susceptible to tampering and fraud. Are we supposed to trust that this won't happen?

Why should Arizona, which up until now has escaped the taint of voter fraud and disenfranchisement that is notorious in Florida and Ohio, invite such trouble? Paper ballots are the way to go.

Editor's note: Pima County staff members answer questions from readers about the touchscreen voting machines in Sunday's Opinion section.