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Link: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/myth-fact-md.html
My esteemed colleague, Doug Jones, has authored a rebuttal to the Maryland Board of Elections ridiculous brochure that was obviously written in close consultation with election systems vendors.
In late June or early July of 2004, the Maryland State Board of Elections issued a brochure, Maryland's Better Way to Vote -- Electronic Voting: Myth vs. Fact listing 6 "myths" about electronic voting and offering "facts" in response to each "myth." This brochure was intended to counter widespread public criticism of the voting system in use in Maryland. Clearly, skepticism about the voting system does threaten public trust in that system, and public trust in the voting system is essential if the government is to be seen as legitimate in the eyes of the electorate, so some kind of defense is appropriate.
Sadly, Maryland's Myth versus Fact defense contains a sufficient number of misleading assertions, straw-man arguments and outright errors that it may well do more to fuel public distrust than it does to assure the trustworthiness of the system it defends. In sum, many of the statements in this brochure would be more nearly accurate if the labels myth and fact were exchanged. A more appropriate defense might have involved squarely admitting the defects in the current system and clearly documenting, for each, the actions taken by the Board of Elections to deal with the problem.
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