Comment by Edward W. Felten

Computers clearly have a role to play in our elections, but figuring out their appropriate and best use is a difficult question. We don't need to choose between an all electronic system and a paper system. Instead, we should use computers and paper together so that each one can do what it does best and each can compensate for the drawbacks of the other. Such a system combines paper and electronic elements and can be easier to use, more reliable, and more secure than either an all electronic or all paper system. The starting point for understanding what kind of system we should use is to ask which things computers do well and which things are better done on paper. Computers do several things well. They report election results quickly. They can be accessible to disabled people. And they can help voters find and fix errors before the ballot is cast. Though these promises are not always met in practice, they are reason enough to give computers a role in our elections. Unverified source (2007)