As the writer and producer of a documentary about the 2000 Florida election debacle, Counting on Democracy, and member of the Election Verification Network, I read with interest USA TODAY's article "10 years later, new concerns about voting" (Cover story, News, Oct. 19).

Billions of dollars later, the machinery of our democracy is creaking along. Election officials and voting machine vendors must not be allowed to hide behind the catchall excuse of "human error." Late poll openings due to machine malfunctions and programming errors do not merely inconvenience voters. Those who are turned away from the polls are effectively disenfranchised. And those who encounter problems question whether their votes will be counted accurately.

Voting technology and ballot design influence election outcomes, affect how voters feel about their ability to exercise their right to vote and influence voters' willingness to accept the results of an election as legitimate. Bush v. Gore notwithstanding, many Americans never accepted the legitimacy of George W. Bush's presidency.

The District of Columbia's recent public test of Internet voting could foreshadow the next meltdown. The system was hacked. Election officials rightly pulled the plug on a voting technology that may never be ready for prime time.

Faye M. Anderson; Philadelphia