Photo by reallyboring on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.

By now, you’ve heard about touchscreen voting machines and how they are either switching votes before people’s eyes or not recording votes. While the problem is probably not as big as the internet would lead you to believe, it still seems like somewhat of a problem. Hell, even Oprah had problems with the machines.

But what I don’t understand: Why touchscreens? As much as I love my iPhone’s touchscreen, it has its glitches. Sometimes when I try to drunk-dial my ex, I end up calling my grandmother.

And from Florida’s problems with chads, we know those don’t work either. Let’s also stay away from those Scantron cards. I hated them in highschool. I hate them in college. They present us with the same problem as chads.

I do agree with the move to computers for voting. It makes data management a breeze. And as long as the technology guarantees a fair election, I can even see internet voting happening in the near future. If we’re not going to make election day a holiday, at least let the masses vote from from their desks at the office.

But these touchscreen voting machines are vile creatures. I know my grandparents have never used at touchscreen in their life. They’ve used computers, though. So why can’t we just have a voting machine with arrow keys? Highlight your choice and push the enter key. It’s visual. It’s haptic. It’s cheaper. And it’s a method that’s proven to be a successful in nearly every typewriter and computer since their inception.

For the next election, let’s not be early adopters. Let’s just make it work.