Can't This Country Build A Voting Machine That Works?

As Macon voters head to the polls today for the city council runoff elections, it's great timing that HDNet is airing a special tonight called “The Trouble with Touch Screens” at 8 p.m.

As local voters are aware, Bibb County as well as the state of Georgia uses electronic machines for its elections, though these machines are non-networked to prevent hacking. But perhaps after tonight's report, that will be re-examined.

Veteran newsman Dan Rather takes a look during this hour-long special about various faults that occur within these machines, everything from being improperly calibrated to substandard parts in the factories they are built.

In addition, Rather revisits the controversial paper ballots from the 2000 election, including a discussion with the workers from the company that made the ballots. One worker points out that for that election, the company switched to a cheaper, inferior paper to save money which led to the dangling chads controversy.

This isn't the first report on the subject - HBO did the excellent "Hacking Democracy" a couple of years ago - but it's an important subject to remain vigilant about.

For areas that don't get HDNet, the program will also air online at www.hd.net.

TUESDAY'S BEST BETS: If you can't get enough Mandy Moore - and really, who can? - you are in luck. You can catch the one-hour special "I Am Mandy Moore" (Oxygen, 10:30 p.m.) tonight following a marathon of "Tori and Dean." Hey, don't accuse of not being equal opportunity here.

I, of course, will be tuned into "On The Lot," (Fox, 8 p.m.) as the final semifinalist is eliminated and we are left with the final three. I wrote extensively about this last week, but I'm betting Sam gets the boot. The judges were most critical of his film. Adam's film was utterly fantastic (though it turns out, my parents didn't get his film - hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion) and Will was very solid. Jason continues to have his fans that don't include me. The winner will be announced next week.

The mis-named "America's Got Talent" (NBC, 8 p.m.) also narrows down its field, followed by "The Singing Bee" at 9:30 p.m. Just being equal opportunity, again.

The wonderfully addicting "The Bronx Is Burning" (ESPN, 10 p.m.) continues tonight. I'm a bit disappointed that the only New York cultural event they haven't mentioned yet from 1977 was the debut of The Ramones. (Plus, it was the summer of "Star Wars.")

And "Damages" (FX, 10 p.m.) continues. Some people haven't liked this show, but I'm digging it, especially the always-reliable Glenn Close.

Finally, I'm guessing the ratings haven't been good, because "Murder" (Spike, Midnight) has been pushed back from it's normal timeslot. I still find this show pretty interesting, though the cases haven't been the most challenging and the teams can be quite frustrating in the choices they make.