Our country is facing a potential threat that's more imminent than any of the environmental issues I usually talk about here. What's got me worried is a series of documented irregularities, operational problems and design flaws experienced by many of the electronic voting systems that will be used in this fall's presidential election.

Initially hailed as a solution to the irregularities, lost ballots and "hanging chad" that plagued our last presidential election, most of the computerized voting systems on the market have proven to be even more susceptible to errors, and even outright fraud, than the systems they will replace. There is nothing inherently wrong with electronic voting; it's just that the numerous problems these systems have had during real-live elections are a grim reminder that we need a second, independent au-dit trail (preferably with paper receipts) to guarantee that your vote will actually be counted. Unfortunately, it seems as if the machine manufacturers are putting much more energy into selling their equipment than doing what it takes to ensure it's reliable and verifiable.

The good news is that concerned citizens across the nation, including in my home state of New Jersey, are doing something about ensuring that our votes are properly counted this November. Like much of America, New Jersey will be using Sequoia Voting Systems equipment in 16 of its 21 counties this fall. While not as scandal-plagued as market leader Diebold, a little research at www.blackboxvoting.org revealed that Sequoia has its own history of problems, including denying my county's (Mercer) written request to retrofit our machines with the printers needed for a paper audit trail.

Fortunately, there is a growing coalition of progressive, conservative and politically neutral groups that have joined forces to ensure that our state has a secure, verifiable voting system. Their efforts are part of a loosely organized group of people working with Verified Voting (www.verifiedvoting.org), a group that is helping to organize similar efforts in 18 other states.

Since Sequoia has refused to add receipt printers to Mercer County's machines, the coalition has worked with the county on a plan to bypass their units in the fall election. It turns out that our county uses optically scanned paper ballots to count our absentee votes. And while optical scanners are not perfect, they are at least as reliable as the Sequoia units and provide a built-in paper audit trail as a safeguard.

The modest sum it will cost to buy a few more optical scanners will be a small price to pay for knowing that our democratic process has been preserved.

I strongly recommend that you get involved to make sure your county has a verifiable voting system in place for this fall. If this is not the case, make sure that you and everyone you know votes by a paper absentee ballot. Regardless of whom we're inclined to vote for, preserving our fundamental right to have our votes count is a victory for all of us.

Write me at lgoldberg@green-electronics.com.