US Election Assistance Commission - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines Vote
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Name :   Warren Smith
Organization :   N/A
Post Date :   9/30/2005

General Comments
Comment :  SPOILED BALLOTS:  
Suppose the voter feeds in an invalid ballot (such as an "overvote").  
Then I want it to be a requirement that the voting machine IMMEDIATELY  
notify the voter his ballot is invalid & rejected - and permit that  
voter to try again.  
It should be absolutely unacceptable for a voting machine to simply  
silently accept an invalid ballot without notifying the voter there is any  
problem - and indeed it should not be possible to adjust the machine to  
make it be so silent - but these guidelines simply permit this practice without even a disparaging comment!  

This is the year 2005. Unintended spoiled ballots simply should not  
exist.