From Washington, Marketplace's John Dimsdale looks at some of the reforms being considered. The drawbacks are now well known to the whole world. Oregon conducted all its voting by mail this year. Turnout increased, but the vote count is slow and there were breakdowns caused by missing signatures and mis-marked ballots. The computer age has yet to solve the problems although electronic voting shows some promise.
Touch screens make choices clear and optical scanners make counting votes quick and reliable.
There are still concerns the electronic data is vulnerable to tampering, but several systems have paper backups for verification during recounts. The biggest drawback appears to be the cost which ranges from three to five billion dollars for enough electronic machines nationwide. Former Federal Election Commission member Trevor Potter says the country is stuck with an outdated system because there hasn't been any pressure to change. Whether more reliable voting machines will be available for the next election depends on the political pressure from voters and taxpayers. In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.