Retinal Scan Voting

In less than 24 hours I will wield a dull number 2 pencil and hopefully make sweeping changes throughout our government.

Despite amazing changes in technology in the 20 years since I cast my first ballot, the pencil still remains the weapon of choice for voters in Wisconsin. In that same timeframe Microsoft has released more versions of Windows than we have had presidents.

If Microsoft had advanced at the same pace as voting technology, uber-geeks would still play silly pager games and the mouse, the Start menu and the USB port would be considered cutting edge.

But alas, technology has finally gotten to the point where we can reliably use it for elections. Biometric scanners could provide a nearly foolproof method for ensuring that one-person-one-vote becomes reality.

Fingerprint recognition or retinal scans may sound like something from a sci-fi movie, but they are being used safely and reliably in a wide variety of applications that require high security.

Could these methods be circumvented? Sure, everything has the potential for infiltration and fraud. But I think that we’d be fairly safe until someone figures out how to borrow somebody’s fingerprints or retinal patterns.

Impractical? I don’t think so. These same technologies could be used by the state motor vehicle departments to help eliminate fraudulent drivers licenses, state ID cards and a host of other identification related issues.

Building the database of biometric data could be a stumbling block, but not one that is impossible to overcome. A little ingenuity could provide a variety of methods for collecting the information and ensuring that nobody is disenfranchised.

In a time where leadership is so important, it’s time for someone to step to the head of the line and present a bold initiative like this to ensure that our elections will no longer be as reliable as a candidates campaign slogan.

The time has come to retire the pencil and embrace the retinal scan.