The bootstrap problem

Yesterday I served as a poll clerk in Alameda County. More on that in a future post.

Many people made sarcastic comments about the Diebold electronic voting machines. Trying to be as apolitical as possible (I have a LOT to say about those machines personally...), I responded as follows.

Voter: So where is the accountability here? Why are we using a machine with no paper record?

Me: All of the machines used in this election were certified by the Secretary of State, who is accountable to the voters, given that he is an elected official.

which seemed the best answer I could give at the time. But when I got home, it occured to me: how does electoral accountability work when the issue at hand is the electoral process? A classic bootstrap problem, and probably the best argument against the machines.

PS: After working in a run down gym for 14 hours, it gets really hard to smile when voters imply that I'm part of a conspiracy with Diebold to manipulate the election. We were given name badges that said "Election official: how may I help you?". They should have said: "You elected the person who chose the eVoting machines: Blame yourself!"