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PRO (YES)
The Ad Hoc Touch Screen Task Force, commissioned by former California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, released a July 1, 2003 report titled Report to the Secretary of State which states:
"The advantages of DRE systems include: no 'chad'; eliminating the possibility of an 'overvote' (or making more selections than permissible) and advising the voter of any 'undervote' (when a voter makes fewer than the maximum number of permissible selections in a contest);...eliminating marking devices which can result in questions of voter intent; and providing a review screen before a voter casts a ballot."
7/1/2003 Ad Hoc Touch Screen Task Force 
Congressional Research Service's 2001 Report for Congress titled Voting Technologies in the United States: Overview and Issues for Congress states:
"Unintended choices also cannot be prevented. However, how often they occur depends in part on the clarity of the ballot design and functioning of the voting equipment... Touchscreen electronic systems can potentially reduce the risk of unintended choice by allowing the voter to review a summary of the choices made before submitting the ballot...
Since DRE systems record each vote electronically as it is cast...voters cannot make ambiguous or unreadable choices."
2001 Congressional Research Service
The Election Technology Council's "Statement of Principles" (July 2004; available on their website) describes the following advantages of electronic voting systems:
"DRE systems take the ambiguity out of vote counting by eliminating ballot review problems like 'hanging' and 'pregnant' chad and errors like over votes or unintentional under votes. Voters using DRE systems are presented with ballot choices in highly readable and intuitive formats. Upon completion of voting, system generated ballot reviews allow voters to go back and fill in missing votes or correct mistakes - meaning fewer votes are cast in error."
July 2004 Election Technology Council
Paul Boutin, former Senior Editor of Wired magazine, writes in his June 2004 article "Is E-Voting Safe?":
"Touch-screen systems can reduce several common mistakes voters make in the booth. They provide immediate feedback on your vote, helping to ensure that you don't vote for too many candidates in a race, forget to vote on an issue, or enter an unintended vote because you misread the interface."
June 2004 Paul Boutin
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CON (NO)
Ellen Theisen, CEO of the Vote-PAD Company, writes in her 2005 report "Myth Breakers: Facts About Electronic Elections":
"The sensors in touch screen devices can be knocked out of alignment by shock and vibration that may occur during transport. Unless these sensors are realigned at the polling place prior to the start of voting, touch screen machines can misinterpret a voter's intent. For example, a voter might touch the part of the screen identified with candidate Jones, but candidate Smith's box would light up instead."
2005 Ellen Theisen
Michael Shamos, Ph.D., J.D., examined the UniLect PATRIOT electronic voting system on behalf of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The results of his evaluation were delivered in his April 2005 report UniLect Corporation PATRIOT Voting System: An Evaluation:
"Among the complaints received about the Patriot system is that the touchscreen does not function reliably. That is, when a voter touches the screen, the touch is not necessarily sensed, which results in the voter incorrectly believing that she has cast a vote. This behavior was observed during the examination, when sometimes multiple depressions did not result in the touch being sensed...A system that fails to recognize voter choices is not capable of absolute accuracy."
April 2005 Michael Shamos
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), in a July 19, 2004 letter to Henry McMaster, Attorney General for the State of South Carolina, outline some examples of electronic voting machines not accurately capturing the intent of the voter:
"In Maryland (November 5, 2002), voters using Diebold DREs watched as they voted for the Republican candidate for governor and the 'X' appeared beside the name of the Democratic candidate...
In Dallas County, Texas (October 22, 2002), the Democrats said they received several dozen complaints from people who said that they selected a Democratic candidate but that their vote on an ES&S [Election Systems and Software] DRE appeared beside the name of a Republican on the screen. Some votes cast for Republicans were counted for Democrats...
In Fairfax County, Virginia (November 4, 2003), some voters using Advanced Voting Solutions DREs watched as the 'X' they put beside the name of a Republican School Board Member, Rita Thompson, dimmed out and moved to her Democratic [sic] opponent. Ms. Thompson complained and one machine was tested. Surprised officials watched as the machine subtracted approximately 1 out of 100 votes for Ms. Thompson."
7/19/2004 Electronic Frontier Foundation
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