Election Software Market Beckons

A sudden interest in electoral technology has prompted Dell, Microsoft, and Unisys to form a partnership to sell election systems. What the collaboration will actually deliver is still undetermined, but the partnership, announced in Dec. 2000, already has one contract under its belt, and it places Microsoft among other partners with a growing track record of involvement in election and voting technologies.

Troubled Voting Legacy

Before the disputed Florida vote count in the U.S. 2000 presidential election, few election officials supported widespread adoption of new digital technologies. Concerns about accuracy, security, and the lack of Internet access among lower-income voters were commonly cited reasons for their skepticism about employing new technologies.

But, as the Florida election conflict revealed, traditional voting systems are not necessarily reliable, and in some circumstances can discard the choices of thousands of voters. The fragility of voting systems in Florida gave pause to election officials elsewhere, who realized that, placed under the same microscope, they would fare little better.