>I'm more confident in a manual count verified by observers from all interested parties than I am in a 100 percent accurate and unbreakable computerized system. I'm trying to imagine the fallout from a hard-disk crash, power failure, lightning strike, etc. when there is no paper trail to reconstruct the files.

Sure, there are some issues to be resolved - but I'm saying it's inevitable, and there are positive sides to it - note Doug's suggestions in thread #440875 on how it might work, and allowing for a paper trail.