The most important aspect of an election is confidence in the integrity of the vote counts.  Now that we have used our reliable lever action voting machines for the last time, it is imperative that we replace them with a voting system which provides equal or greater integrity.

  In light of the growing movement to clean out the incumbents in the Pennsylvania legislature, who have so blatantly violated their oath to uphold the Constitution, we must use every means at our disposal to ensure that the new system is as incorruptible as is humanly possible.

  Federal mandates in the "Help Americans to Vote Act", in violation of the 10th Amendment, are requiring the States to implement electronic voting machine systems.  As a computer programmer of over 30 years, and a candidate for public office, I can assure you that without multiple electronic and hard copy audit paths, the results of any election on these machines will be suspect.  Certainly, they are capable of returning accurate results, but it is incredibly easy for a system without adequate auditing to be corrupted into returning pre-determined results.

  Here are a set of rules which, if mandated, will help ensure that the system will return accurate results to a high degree of reliability:

1)  Each voting machine will print a human and machine readable receipt, to be retained by the voter, including the complete information set recorded for that ballot.  The receipt will include a unique ballot identification number, and a password which will allow the voter to access his or her ballot record on-line via their own computer, or in person at the county municipal building.  Voters will have 30 days to inspect their recorded ballots, and to contest any inaccuracies.

2)  Each voting machine will also print a human and machine readable receipt, which will be retained by the election officials, and serve as a vote count verification.  The voter will inspect this copy before completing his or her ballot.

3)  The voting machines will store a complete electronic record of each ballot in human readable format, and will also store a first and second audit copy of each record.  The machines may compute vote totals, but electronic poll results will be considered advisory until a certification process is completed.  The voting software (computer program) will run from human readable source code on every machine, which may be inspected by any voter or candidate.  Voting machines will burn the raw data of their ballot records onto ISO CD recordable (write once) discs.  Voting machines will not be connected to any computer network of any kind during the election.

4)  Certification will be performed by tabulating the election officials' hard copy receipts and verifying them against the electronic count.  Electronic tallying machines may be used, but these machines must provide a method for an election official to view and verify the tally.  Every discrepancy between the electronic poll results and the certification tally will be investigated and resolved by the election officials.  Every vote on every electronic record must exactly match the certification tally of the officials' hard copy.

5)  The officials' receipts, and all electronic ballot records, will be retained in secure storage by county officials for no less than 2 years past the expiration of the term of office of any candidate on the ballot.

6)  A recount of any election may be requested by any candidate, or by petition of 1% of the participating voters of that election.  No fees may be assessed for a recount.

  All of the above rules can be easily met with current PC and automated transaction processing technology.  If an ATM or automated gas pump can produce receipts as well as multiple audit trails, we must surely expect no less from our voting machines.