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In a traditional election, the ballots are counted by civil servants with scrutineers from each candidate personally observing the tally.



It varies from State to State and city to city. In NYC, the Board of Elections is pretty neatly bi-partisan (since a non-partisan board is next to impossible.) The actual civil servants are party workers appointed by higher ranking politicos on the board, but always balanced between Republicans and Democrats. The observers at each poling place are generally appointed by the respective parties, since one observer for each candidate on the ballot would produce a zoo.

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As I understand it, the diebold machines do not produce a paper back-up and there is no audit function. This is not the same as a history of irregularities. It is sending all the votes to an INTERESTED third party who agrees to send you an e-mail to let you know the winner.

The absence of transparency is very disturbing.



That is my understanding as well.