The Pros And Cons Of Evms

Electronic Voting Machines, or EVMs for short, are a very controversial issue. To many, the ease of use, and the extra privacy provided prove that EVMs are the way of the future. To others, the security risks and extra cost means that paper ballots should be here to stay. For this writer, the pros for using EVMs far outweigh the cons.

EVMs are very simple to use, according to a 2003 poll of voters across the spectum of race, gender, and physicality in which 97% of people answered that the machines gave them no trouble. While only 32% of voters over the age of 59 are comfortable using electronic voting, as shown in a 2004 national survey from California Institute of Technology, this only speaks to the disdain toward technology from the elderly, not any difficulty they experienced using the machines.

While many say that EVMs are too expensive to maintain, paper ballots have a high cost as well. Paper ballots are not feasibly able to be printed in many of the languages spoken by large amounts of Americans. In New York City alone, there are over 138 languages spoken, while ballots are only printed out in 5. Because of this, countless American citizens are forced to make a choice. They can choose to give up their right to vote, or they can give up the right to a secure and

private ballot. Many times, if a citizen still wishes to vote, and cannot read english, they are forced to ask a ballot worker for help, forfeiting their right to privacy.
The largest concern over using EVMs by far stems from the fear of tampering that the machines may be subject to.

This fear, however, does not account for the fact that paper ballots have many security risks as well. With EVMs, tampering with the votes would require someone to tamper with the machines directly, as they are not connected to the internet. The internet is where machines are most vulnrable to hacking, so this is a very important security measure. Paper ballots are at as much risk of being stuffed as EVMs do of being hacked. Even Harris Miller, President of the Information Technology Association of America, has stated before that EVMs are much safer, and more secure than paper

ballots.
In conclusion, while paper ballots pose countless problems for those with disabilities, and many who do not read English, EVMs are easily usable by a vast majority of people. Cost is a concern to many who oppose EVMs, yet they do not realize that paper ballots are costing many Americans their rights every election. While there may be safety concerns over EVMs, they are negligible to the many problems that paper ballots have. While EVMs may be a controversial issue today, in the future, I feel that we will look back as a nation and laugh at any concerns we had.