New technology is changing the way people vote. E-voting and electronic counting are increasingly in use. Machine counting is generally more rapid and accurate than counting by hand.
Machine counting removes the subjectivity involved in assessing the validity of ballots and can ensure an impartial count. It also eliminates many human errors, as well as opportunities for manipulating the count and the results.
However, a machine cannot determine a voter’s intention if the voter made an extra mark on the ballot or did not mark it exactly in the spot that can be read by the machine. Although the intention is clear, the ballot may be rejected.
In addition, machines are not infallible and, if not programmed or maintained properly, they will yield incorrect results. For instance, in the 2000 elections in the United States, shortcomings of the voting machines used in the state of Florida gave rise to an unprecedented electoral and legal tangle involving the Democratic and Republican parties. The race in that state was extremely tight and it was decided that all the votes would be recounted by hand because the defeated candidate believed that the machine results were inaccurate.