I couldn't agree more. It's just so simple! That's why the seeming impossibility of fixing the problems make the whole thing seem so very dubious. They've had three elections since 2000, and they still have the same voting systems with no real paper trail in precincts all across the country. I understand that they vote for far too many people to use a simple "Mark an X" paper ballot, but the optical scan system we use for municipal elections is just as easy to count as most of the American systems, and it's pretty hard to screw up. It's a much better (and likely much cheaper) system than touch screen voting machines. Clearly they can have glitches and can be easily hacked, and even with a paper trail nobody would ever know unless a recount was ordered.