Dan Gillmor’s written a cracking good column about the movement to switch from paper-based electoral balloting to electronic voting.

Specifically, he should tell them that they must, as part of the verification process, create what’s called a “paper trail” — a printout that the voter can look at to verify that the ballot was recorded according to his or her wishes, a document that could later be used for recounts and audits to ensure that the machines had worked as designed.

That anyone disputes this need is astonishing. Yet some people who normally take the side of underdogs, who are passionate about voting rights and the accuracy of elections, are making a common mistake.

They’re putting unwarranted trust in technology. They’re believing that private companies, for the first time in recorded history, can produce perfect, tamper-proof electronic devices.

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