Re: [Fwd: RE: MTBF for voting machines] part 2

[David Aragon <dave@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rebecca says:

> I disagree with the statement that "Loss of 300 votes in one
> machine is much more serious than loss of one vote in each
> of 300 machines."

In the 1978 election to amend the Philadelphia City Charter to
let Mayor Rizzo serve an unlimited number of terms, the Rizzo
forces sabotaged some voting machines.  The intent was of course
to cause loss of votes in certain precincts, which *is* a very
serious civil rights violation.  But because it was so easily
detectable (compared to, say, one vote in each of many machines),
the necessary accountability was achieved, i.e. people were jailed.

So one can indeed argue that a diffuse, and therefore undetectable,
error would have been more "serious" because those remedies couldn't
have been applied.

Dave.