RFID & GPS for Voting Machines?

by Guest Blogger, Lena West

With questions like, "Will the next election be hacked?" making top headlines in news publications around the country, me, the technology evangelist, cannot believe my eyes/ears.  Well, OK, maybe I can.  I secretly knew it would come to this.

November 4th news reports state that the Tennessee State GOP says voting machine smart cards are missing. Ummm...ok...what does THAT mean??

I find it really amazing that in this day of advanced technology and security that a slew of technology components that will be used to tabluate the next election can just be...well...MISSING!  Considering the melee that happened in past elections, why haven't we taken every precaution in attempting to protect our elections. 

In a country in which...

• if I run a red light by a millisecond, a summons is sent to me by mail with a high-speed photo of my license plate.... 
• telephone calls to my 70-something year-old Aunt in Brooklyn are being recorded and 'screened'...
• I can't adjust my undies in an elevator for fear of being caught on tape...
• my NYC MetroCard can tell you where I've been, where I'm going and which train I'm on...

Considering all this, why haven't we slapped GPS and RFID tags on every, single, solitary piece of election equipment?

Why? I'll tell you why.  It's just as my Mami has always said, "Locks are made for honest people."  Think about it.

I don't know about you but, I smell a RAT - and it's wearing a necklace of rotten eggs.

P.S. Can someone tell me why do these election-related problems seem to occur in Southern states?  TN? TX? FL?  What's the deal with the South?