Most importantly, these direct-recording electronic (DRE) systems raise questions about whether elections should be digitised at all.At first sight, doing away with paper and letting computers register votes seems an attractive proposition.
Across the settled areas, the slogan "Meezh dre Maseet"—"I belong to the Mehsud"—struck terror.
Adding a paper trail, vendors of DRE systems argue, would defeat the purpose of a touch-screen kiosk.To overcome such resistance, says Dr Mercuri, the Voting Rights Act, which continues to be debated in Washington, should dictate that all voting-machines have a "physical audit capacity".
Without such an external audit trail, votes would be lost forever if a DRE system were to crash.Although he is best known as the inventor of anonymous digital cash, David Chaum is also convinced that paper, or something like it, still has a role to play in voting.
There is no way to verify that ballots are recorded, transmitted and tabulated properly, argues Rebecca Mercuri, a computer-science professor at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, and the most outspoken critic of DRE.
There are two major types of e-voting equipment: direct recording electronic (DRE) machines and optical scanning machines.
At least one DRE system has been shown to be vulnerable to infection using the activation card.
(For good measure, Eminem announced the details of his new album in commercials sponsored by Beats By Dre).
"A more colourful way of explaining that is to say it's like the Spiders from Mars [David Bowie's backing band] covering Aaliyah or Dr Dre".
He drops some contesting declarations over a steamed-up astutely nabbed Dre beat.
The RIAA sued, so did Metallica and Dr Dre.
