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Science Friday > Archives > 2003 > September > September 26, 2003:
Hour One: Voting Machine Technology / Green Chemistry News

This week, the courts set the California state recall election back on schedule, despite arguments from the ACLU that the punch-card voting machines used in some California counties are prone to malfunction. Though the California election will proceed using the current election equipment, including some punch-card machines, are electronic voting machines the best way to go for future votes? What would it take to create a means of voting that is simultaneously secure, trustworthy, accurate, and efficient to tabulate? Some experts say that electronic voting could raise more concerns that it solves. We'll find out more.

Plus, green chemistry ...using environmentally-friendly chemicals to clean up contamination. Work presented earlier this month at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in New York looks at the use of one such 'green' agent, an oxidation catalyst called Fe-TAML, for cleaning up a variety of messes. We'll find out more. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (2-3 Eastern), and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required).

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Guests:
Douglas Jones
Member, Iowa Election Reform Task Force
Chair, Iowa Board of Examiners for Voting Machines and Electronic Voting Systems
Associate Professor, Computer Science
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa

Guy Duncan
Vice President, Voter Registration Services and Systems
Election Systems and Software
Raleigh, North Carolina

Terry Collins
Director, Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry
Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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Related Links:
Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project
Voting Technology
Wired News: No Consensus on Voting Machines
University researchers criticize electronic voting machines as security risk
Black Box Voting : Ballot - Tampering in the 21st Century
Electronic Voting

Green Chemistry links
Fe-TAML(R) activators developed at Carnegie Mellon remove recalcitrant sulfur from automotive fuels

Fe-TAML(R) activators developed at Carnegie Mellon break down toxic pesticides
Fe-TAML(R) activators developed at Carnegie Mellon help cleanup paper and wood pulp manufacturing

This segment produced by Karin Vergoth

 


 

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