Hacker News Reader

> The vote totals on the machines are checked against the number of people who voted.

Isn't that just checking that "x == x" in software if everything is done by machine?

Nope. The people running the election sign every voter in uaing a system independent of the voting machine (often paper). At the end of the day, they know that 216 people voted at that precinct. If the counting machine doesn't say 216 votes on it, something is awry and must be investigated.

Couldn't the person just signing me in record my vote on paper & then add it to a tally?

1. That's not a secret ballot.

2. The typical US ballot has a dozen or so different votes that need to be done.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com