TSA is wasting time and money on me. They always pull me over for a time-consuming check of every inch of my body by magnetic wand and detailed pat-down. I'm an old man, a retired Naval officer, well into my 70s, with a metallic hip. The security check could be done effectively in seconds, but it usually takes a good 15-20 minutes (at Dulles)...glass-enclosed waiting cubicle before being taken several feet away to the station where they go over you. Ridiculous! A more sensible procedure would be for them to look at my Navy ID, my hip replacement card issued by the orthopedic surgeon, and a quick pat of the hip that sets off the wand.

As a young reporter and editor many years ago at Fairchild Publications (industry newspapers), I much appreciated its policy of never accepting anything off the record. If an interview or briefing was said upfront to be off the record, the reporter was to get up and leave. If something "became off the record" during or after the interview or briefing, it would get printed if relevant. Fairchild's motto was: "Our survival depends on printing the news."

What a blessing that policy was! If I were to accept anything off the record and a colleague in my city room or an out of town bureau were to pick it up and run with it, no source would believe that I hadn't put the colleague up to it. Also, Fairchild policy at the time forbade editorial staff to consort with or even talk to the advertising people. The only contact with the advertising staff was a simple admonition when they had placed an airline ad not to run an airline crash story adjacent to it. Fair enough!

Professor Epps is right on target. There is no valid reason for retaining the so-called electoral college. We need to get rid of it and, while we're at it, let's also solve the vote-counting problems. Voting and vote counting shouldn’t be confusing, fraudulent,time- consuming, nerve-wracking, late, inaccurate, or costly. All we need is some common sense and reasoned investment.

Let’s start from the fact I can go just about anywhere in the world, slip my ATM card into a slot day or night, identify myself with a PIN that only the system and I know, and have cash money presented to me in a matter of seconds. I’ve done it in Norway above the Arctic Circle on a Sunday, in rural Japan, in most European countries, in Turkey, Malaysia…and, yes, even throughout the United States.

Amazing? Not at all! Most of us trust the ATM system. We trust the technology that makes it possible. And most of us know how to use it! (If we don’t, it’s very easy to learn.) Moreover, rest assured that the banks worldwide have the equivalent of a foolproof “paper trail” for every transaction. After all, money is involved and banks take money very seriously.

Now, let’s take the ATM concept and apply it to voting. The first thing we do as a nation, state or municipality is to change the archaic and confusing precinct or ward system. Precincts would undergo consolidation and henceforth be identified by the most appropriate ZIP code. Each ZIP code will become, in effect, a political as well as geographic subdivision. This change should not be too painful for anyone…not even local politicians.

The next step: When a person turns voting age, our omniscient Social Security System (or related agency) sends that person something that looks like an ATM card, but coded with voter-relevant information.

An accompanying letter explains in clear terms that the plastic card is the person’s voter registration and is tied to his or her ZIP code. The letter -- and public service ads -- tell how one goes about “activating” the registration card by selecting a secret voting PIN by telephone, and where the voting “ATMs” are located in his or her ZIP code. We already do something like that when we activate a new credit card.

The letter further explains that the new voting system is statewide AND national. It can be used for ANY election anywhere in the United States. If the voter is traveling, he or she may have to inquire where a voting ATM is located, but that’s not such a big deal… especially since no troublesome absentee or provisional ballots would be involved.

At the time of actual voting, the “ATM” screen will call up ONLY the ballot appropriate to that ZIP code. Such information is on the magnetic stripe (or chip). Votes can be recorded only once in any given election, ruling out fraud. An authentication code on the card would let the system know if someone tried to tamper with the magnetic stripe or chip, which would be very difficult to begin with.

Voters’ selections will be transferred automatically by a standardized computer program to the ZIP code of record and simultaneously fed electronically to the municipalities, states, national agencies, a backup system and, with appropriate time delays, to the wire services that gather and disseminate vote totals.

Special local provisions will be provided for the homebound, those who have moved between elections and wish to update their coded information, and those who have lost their voting card or have forgotten their PIN.

It’s either something like what’s outlined here, or ad infinitum repetitions of what transpired in our last two presidential elections in Florida, Ohio and other places.

One thing does indeed puzzle me, however: Diebold, which finds it so difficult to provide a satisfactory paper trail for its electronic voting machines, also makes those foolproof ATMs.