We shouldn’t trust cyber election tools

Caucuses are not extremely complicated. There are a few simple steps, some of which involve basic elementary arithmetic. Our precinct chair described that part 'like we counted off in second grade.”

Whatever the problem on Feb. 3, we should be wary of technology we don't need. In much of our modern life our simple human methods are inadequate to gain the results we desire, but we may regret the excesses of ‘techno-bling.' Already in past elections there have been reports in other states of electronic touch screen machines being hacked, flipping voters' votes before their eyes. The simple paper trail to manually count, disproving or verifying election fraud treachery was eliminated.

We need to stop society's app-happy addiction when it comes to our election process. Keep the volunteers and paper ballots in our elections. Continue accountable tiers of manual unhackable tabulations in all phases of our voting process.

These elections and the handling of them belong to us. They are important and worth the effort of practicing our grade school skills every now and then. They should not be handed over to the unseen and unknown in the murkiness of 'clouds” and 'cyberspace.”

Erin Karnik

Cedar Rapids