Recently Roy Saltman distributed an announcement regarding his new book on voting technology. I recently had an opportunity to read the manuscript, and it is one that researchers and policymakers who are interested in voting technology will want to read when it is available. It has a thorough discussion of the history of voting technology, a subject that Saltman knows well, being the author of an influential early National Bureau of Standards study “Accuracy, Integrity, and Security in Computerized Vote-Tallying” (1988).

Saltman’s new book is titled “The History and Politics of Voting Technology: In Quest of Integrity and Public Confidence,” to be published by Palgrave Macmillan with what looks to be a current release date of late January 2006.

The publisher has some information regarding Saltman’s new book available, including the following short description: “Roy G. Saltman traces the evolution of voting technology, highlighting how the antiquated systems in use today are a legacy of the industrial revolution and the early computer revolution of the 1950s. He also examines the tangled responsibilities of federal, state, and local authorities in facilitating, monitoring, and counting the votes, creating a disturbing picture of this elemental civic duty.”

We look forward to the publication of Saltman’s book this winter.