I wrote a while ago about the problems inherent in the various electronic voting systems being implemented throughout America. One of the main problems is the lack of a printed record, which would allow people to see and verifty that their vote was counted correctly, as well as allow for recounts in case of close results.

Manufacturers like Diebold have been strangely reluctant to include vote-printing options in their machines. At first they claimed technical incompetence (apparently, attaching a printer to a computer is a daunting task for Diebold), and then when they finally conceded that this technical miracle was possible, they put exorbitant prices on the printer add-ons.

Now comes the big surprise: As Robert X. Cringely describes in his column, the Diebold machines already have printers! The internal printers are required by law for end-of-day vote tallies at least. Modifying the systems to create user-verifiable printed records would require simple changes to the software, and minor enhancements to the computers’ casings to allow the printed receipts to be seen.

Fortunately for Diebold, the major media are still ignoring this story. Blah.