The constitution of the "Show Me State" clearly says that all elections must be "open." So how is it that a committee of the Missouri House is now discussing ways to help counties buy new electronic voting machines -- one of most nontransparent forms of voting that one could imagine?

Electronic voting machines operate with secret, proprietary software while providing no possibility for any real auditing of election results by either election authorities or citizens. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether they ever record the votes correctly.

Instead of scrambling to find funds to purchase the newest generation of this abomination, the committee should be looking to the paper ballot alternative. With hand-marked paper ballots, the voter's intentions can actually be read by the human eye for audit or recount purposes.

In addition to their lack of audit capability, electronic voting machines are expensive. Finding the funds needed to conduct elections with paper ballots for all would be easier, and the end result would be much more compatible with our constitutional right in Missouri to election transparency.

DAVID A LARSON, Jackson