General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Rigged? Computer Security Experts Urge Harris To Demand Hand Recount [View all]cadoman
(891 posts)I wouldn't say that a 100% recount is warranted, but recount a few precincts that seem to have anomalies and see if anything turns up.
I once visited the Pilsner Urquell brewery in Pilsen. A sort of highly automated, soulless monstrosity capable of generating billions of gallons of brain poison a year.
But nestled in the basement of the facility was the ongoing creation of the original recipe, from scratch by hand, in real wooden casks and cellars. And boy was it delicious.
The reason they maintained the second, human system? To have a constant reference for what the mechanized system should output (as they tweak and do lord knows what to it).
So it is with ballot tabulation. In nearly every circumstance the computer tabulator will perform fine, but if you don't spot check it constantly, you'll miss those cases where it was misconfigured or began malfunctioning.