>>My conclusion is that if more people would take responsibility for voting accurately, then your point would be moot.
>
>But if one type of machinery habitually produces more ballots with problems than other types, isn't it reasonable to say that at least part of the problem is related to the machinery?
>

>>victims of a voting process that has been basically unchanged for 30 years.
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>I don't know how valid an argument that is. I don't think the people having problems are the ones who've been voting on punchcards for 30 years.
>
>Seems to me that Florida (particularly some of the relevant counties) has a lot of new population every election. Where I live, an awful lot of people retire to Florida. If you've been voting on machines all your adult (which is true if you're from a lot of places in the Northeast), the first few times you're faced with a different voting mechanism, you well might have problems with it. And if the mechanism has a higher error rate than others, the two issues seems to feed each other.
>
>Tamar

Relate this to programming and I think one sees an inherent problem... what happened is new sytem users weren't able to relate to the UI. Does it mean the UI is flawed? Possibly, but not necessarily. It could also be a training issue. No matter how "intuitive" or "friendly" UI is, *someone* will have trouble/problems with it. Again, as programmers, it's something I think we can all relate to.

I see two remedies:
1. Just as new system users are trained in corporate America, new voters should have training opportunities prior to election day. In other words, "Get out the vote" drives should turn into "Make your vote count" drives.

2. Personal responsibility! I am extremely liberal in that I believe personal freedoms are sacred above all, but responsibility is the key. The willingness to admit a lack of voting knowledge and seeking instruction is taking responsibility for one's vote and paramount. Not doing so and then later whining, crying, tearing hair, beating chests, blaming others, suing, and otherwise acting like a child throwing a tantrum merely feeds into the national epidemic of co-dependency.