Computer Balloting Was Flawed; Ditto for InkaVote

Re “Glitches Hinder Casting of Votes,” March 3: I’m a person who is at ease using a computer, and I found the new voting machines in Orange County troublesome. Like a woman I met as I exited the polls, I kept touching the screen because I’m familiar with that process at ATMs. When the box next to “English” didn’t respond to my touch, I reread the instructions and touched the box on the screen that said “Enter.” That didn’t work either, so I went back to the instructions and noticed a button at the bottom.

Several times, I scrolled the wheel past the page I wanted to see, only to find that on my first go-round, I had voted for no one. Are we trying to discourage voters from going to the polls? Are we trying to discourage a certain age group? Are we trying to make voting so slow and inconvenient that those with little time to spare will stop voting? Yes, I will do better with the system next time -- but some won’t bother. This system needs rethinking.

Susan Murphy

Balboa Island

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I am an Orange County voter who just used the new eSlate electronic voting equipment. I found the machine easy to use and am certainly not opposed to using new technology in the voting process. I am wondering, however, why there is no paper record of my vote in addition to the electronic data.

After the debacle in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, I think our government needs to take action to regain voter trust and assure us all that our votes really will be counted. Target will give me a paper receipt for a purchase as insignificant as a 79-cent pack of chewing gum. Surely something as important as my vote merits a paper record to back it up as well. My access code to use the voting equipment was printed out for me on paper.

Sheila Peck

Huntington Beach

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When I voted on Tuesday, I got the tour of the new L.A. County InkaVote ballot that is marked with ink rather than punch-out chads, went to the booth, started voting and marked about 10 spaces, each with the distinctive “ca-chunk” sound that the marking pen makes ... then looked back to see the marks. On at least two items, there was no mark after the distinctive sound was made. I told the precinct officers to watch out; people may think they are voting, but if the mark is not there, their votes will go uncounted. I do not know if other people have had this problem, but I surely did. Bring back the punch-out chads!

Robert Plasky

Granada Hills