Our votes must be counted accurately even if computer software fails. That simple concept has been championed by technology experts in Virginia and around the country. But on Nov. 3 most Virginia voters will cast their votes using electronic voting equipment that offers no independent way to check the accuracy of the returns. The General Assembly has already decided that unverifiable direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines must be phased out—and for good reason. Subtle bugs occur in all computer systems, and it is impossible to test for all of them. Report after report in recent years has uncovered new ways that purely electronic voting can be corrupted without detection—or simply fail.