Monday, December 10, 2007
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Scholars have all but ignored the history of voting machines,

Vote: Election Education and Fraud



Before Florida
http://oscar.virginia.edu/x11888.xml

Why is Pfaffenberger's current research focused on New York? Not
only were voting machines first used in upstate New York, but also
the Empire State led the nation in adopting voting machines. In
1927, 80 percent of the votes cast in New York were cast
mechanically; the nearest competitor, Indiana, used voting machines
in only 20 of 92 counties.

Pfaffenberger's study has already turned up some surprises.

It's well known that, throughout the United States, the decade of
the1890s was roiled by ballot reform -- specifically,
implementation of the Australian or secret ballot, a process marked
by controversy. Election districts had to choose from three
different Australian ballot designs, each of which had differing
implications for the balance of political power between local
political interests -- including the likes of New York City's
notorious Tammany Hall -- and national party elites.

"There's an almost exact parallel between the debate we're having
today concerning electronic voting machines and the equally
divisive, but completely forgotten, debate that greeted
first-generation voting machine technology in the 1920s,"
Pfaffenberger says.

By showing how first-generation voting machines enabled national
party elites to reduce the autonomy of localities, Pfaffenberger is
helping to resolve a long-lasting controversy among political
scientists and historians about who was responsible for the
sweeping electoral reforms that characterized the 1890s.

Watch a video of Bryan Pfaffenberger discussing the connection
between his research and current issues involving voting machine
technology.

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Monday, December 10, 2007 4:25:42 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Disclaimer  |  Comments [0]  |  Related posts:
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