“On Nov. 7 America had a chilling wake-up call. If the Florida election fiasco had involved even three or four more urban states, does anyone seriously believe we’d have escaped without riots or worse?There are three fundamental problems in our voting system. First, we must make our ballots easier to understand and easier to mark; so that others can understand what choices were made. Come on, let’s not get testy about individual responsibility. Let’s just do it.Secondly, we must have a more accurate way of counting ballots. Accepting a 2-3 percent inaccuracy in machine counting is a ticking time bomb in close elections. Last month it blew up on us. The machines may not be biased, but their programs certainly can be.Thirdly, we must have a more accurate way of identifying who is actually entitled to vote. When felons and illegals have an easier time voting than soldiers and sailors, it’s time for some basic changes.There are two roads to solving these problems. We can go back to the future and make our voting system much more low tech. Or, we can go forward to the future and make our voting system much more high tech. First, let’s talk low tech. It is embarrassing to admit that Canada was able to hand count old fashion paper ballots faster than we machine counted our own. Some of us weren’t sure Canadians could count beyond ten with their shoes on, but there you have it. Plus, Canada’s paper ballots were easier to read and mark than many of ours.It is even more embarrassing to admit that some parts of Mexico have a more fraud-proof voting system than we do. You can travel to the most remote Mexican precincts and find election officials demanding picture ID before handing over a ballot. (Evidently, our Mexican amigos do not share the ACLU’s concern about Hermano Grande.)Even after you show picture ID, they ink your thumb and put a fingerprint right next to your name on the registration list. It takes the ink two or three days to wear off. In the meantime, you’d better not try to vote twice with a black thumb.When you come down to it, the simpler the system, the harder it is to beat. Besides, the black thumb could be a badge of pride on election day. Sort of like the righteous feeling I get from that smudge on my forehead on Ash Wednesday.However, we are Americans and technology is almost a religion with us. So let’s talk high tech. No, not the Internet; even though Arizona’s Democratic Party Primary used it successfully this year. A one party, one state, primary was simply not enough temptation for mischief.But watch out. Even amateurs have hacked their way into the Stock Market, State Department and Pentagon computers. Imagine what full fledged cyber-terrorists, bankrolled by a rouge nation, could do to our national elections? If you tech-nerds want to debate the point, write your own column. You know the paper’s address.There are more secure alternatives. We take driver’s tests on interactive machines that can just as easily show us a ballot, in any language we choose, with pictures to help those challenged by literacy. [I know, it saddens me too, but that won’t make it go away.] The machines can even offer a Regis Philbin is that your final answer? fail safe. Three times for Florida residents.We can minimize mischief with send only machines, that produce two records of each vote. The first is sent to a central data base for counting. The second remains with the machine as a fail safe, for more leisurely double checking. It’s not foolproof, but it’s miles ahead of what we’ve got.How do we make sure only legitimate voters vote? Easy, if you’re willing to accept voter debit cards, issued to anyone who can prove she/he is an American citizen above the age of 18. Each card can only be swiped through a voting machine once per election (that’s ever so much cleaner than black ink on our thumbs.)Do I hear cries of Big Brother (or Big Sibling, for those opposed to gender-specificity?) You’re not alone. There are some pretty powerful interests who will fight tooth and nail to prevent what amounts to a national identity card. Let’s not go into the reasons.Anyway, I’ve got news for them. Big Brother arrived years ago. Any merchant can access your credit reports. Middle-level White House flunkies can illegally obtain secret FBI files. Social Security information has gotten out. So has IRS data. Insurance Companies scan your health records. Mega-corporations test employees for drugs and heaven knows what psychological predilections.Your picture is on your license. In many states, so is your finger print. Go ask for a mortgage, a credit card or an Oak Harbor Library card. I had to provide my Social Security number to get that last little item.Big Brother already has just about all the information he can misuse. A voter identity card is not going to give him much more aid and comfort. But, it can make all the difference in the world to honest elections whose results we can trust.Unfortunately, even these measures will not address the largest threat to fraud-free elections: absentee voting. In Florida (and in most other urban states) there are actually absentee ballot brokers. Politicians have acknowledged this from the floor of the Florida House of Representatives itself.Absentee ballot brokers buy absentee ballots and deliver them to candidates who will pay the price. Soon, half of us will be voting absentee and these low lifes will control most elections. Not even voter identity cards will stop them.Absentee balloting has got to go back to what it used to be: a last ditch necessity, not a matter of convenience. (Sorry, I don’t like it either.) It’s a sacrifice, but it’s one we’d better make. If we follow Europe’s example and hold elections all 24 hours of a Saturday, the inconvenience can be minimized. What the heck, our foreparents had to show up in person and hitch up the horses to do it.Let’s face facts. We’ve had our wake-up call. If we just roll over and hit the snooze button, the elections of 2002 and 2004 will catch us napping. But, this time, the nightmare will begin when we wake up.———————-Paul Newman is the political columnist for the Whidbey News-Times. “