Technical Problems Reported in E-Voting (Today's voting)

[RamboLiberal]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=562&ncid=703&e=3&u=/ap/20040302/ap_on_hi_te/e_voting_s_biggest_test

Electronic voting made its debut in cities and towns from Maryland to California on Tuesday as election officials beefed up security for the record number of voters expected to cast E-ballots for the first time.

Scattered technical problems were reported in the early hours as voters in 10 states, including California, New York and Ohio, went to the Super Tuesday polls to choose a Democratic presidential nominee and decide primary contests for congressional and state races.

<snip>

In California, new security measures range from random tests of touch-screen machines by independent computer experts to a recommendation that poll workers prevent voters from carrying cell phones or other wireless devices into booths.

<snip>

One Maryland polling place had to switch to paper ballots Tuesday because its new electronic voting machines didn't work. State elections supervisor Linda Lamone said technicians expected to have the problem fixed quickly.

Voters also had to start out using paper ballots in Georgia's Effingham County. Chris Riggall, a spokesman for Secretary of State Cathy Cox, said county officials apparently forgot to program the encoders — devices used to tell ballot access cards, which voters insert into the machines, what ballot to display.

[onehandle]

1. Karl Rove was hiding behind my machine.

Anyone think that was a problem?

:+

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. Are you saying he's some kind of gremlin.

(I mean no disrespect to actual gremlins)


:dunce:

[phoebe]

2. Be interesting to hear what that (pos) Cathy Cox has to say

about electronic voting now. I'm sure she'll find something comforting to say to the voters..she needs to feel some immediate effects from pissed off Georgians, like being frog-marched out of office and into a jail cell..

[TroglodyteScholar]

4. voting in GA

Just got back from casting my ballot...I'm pleased to report that nothing malfunctioned for me. I'm still against unauditable touch-screen voting, though, because too many things can go wrong in too many steps of the process. It kind of feels like throwing your vote down a very deep hole.

As for Cathy Cox, she's quite a fan of electronic voting. We could lose every ballot in every county and she'd have something positive to say about the equipment.

Anyway...if my candidate loses, I'll know something is wrong with the machine I used. :7

[phoebe]

7. "nothing malfunctioned for me" mmm..

no disrespect meant but don't be too sure..there are several ways to steal an election without an obvious malfunction. The votes can be applied electronically to another candidate with ease as has occurred in the past.

Will your polling place post results throughout the day or at the end of the day? How are the totals "transported" to the Sec. of State? Will the wrong candidate win by less than 1% of the vote? Is there a paper receipt so that you can confirm who you voted for? And the questions go on and on..

on edit - I realize that you are hinting at these suspicions in your post but I am spelling out just a couple for those who are not so well acquainted with this subject..

[catzies]

10. Welcome to DU, Concerned GA Voter!

:hi:

You are 100% correct to be skeptical and wary of the E-voting process as we know it. Many DUers are at the forefront of this vital issue.

[maryallen]

21. And you have to wonder why ...

Why would Cox and all the other supporters of e-voting object so loudly to the mere mention of a paper trail???

I can only think of one reason ...

[klook]

23. "Expense" of a paper trail

4th District Congressional rep Denise Majette says she opposes the paper trail because it's "too expensive." Yeah, just like the receipt you get at the gas station, grocery store, ATM, department store, online merchant, restaurant, etc. Despite the "exorbitant" expense, and the "nightmare" of printer breakdowns, somehow those businesses manage to keep operating. Maybe govt can get a clue from the biz world on this one.

[maryallen]

29. Denise Majette?

Denise Majette -- the one who used to be a Republican? The one who was drafted to run against Cynthia McKinney? That Denise Majette?

And she thinks a paper trail would be too expensive? Ha! That's a likely story ...

[klook]

30. Yes, that Denise Majette

--the one who was elected by thousands of Repugs crossing over to vote for her in the 2002 primary, forcing Cynthia McKinney out. :grr: There was all kinds of hype in the Atlanta media about how Cynthia had accused Bush of "knowing about 9/11" and allowing it to happen so his family and their cronies could make money off the ensuing war (which they have, of course). Only problem is, she never said that. (See "The Screwing of Cynthia McKinney" on http://www.gregpalast.com.) But you probably already knew all that.

I hope Cynthia runs again. She was a great Congressional rep and is a courageous fighter for justice.

[klook]

22. Electro-chads

I voted in GA today also. There were some creepy aspects:
* Liebold machine, so my confidence in the vote is shaky.
* Machine was in the open, not in a booth--so much for private voting.
* No receipt, of course, and no way to verify later that my vote was recorded, recorded accurately, and not changed later. Will my vote disappear from the system's long-term memory?
* No way to cast a write-in vote. (although when I asked one of the poll ladies, for future reference, she told me I could fill in a "provisional ballot"--could that be an alternative to electronic voting?).

On the "good" side:
* At least I wasn't kept from voting by virtue of a ChoicePoint pseudo-felon sweep.
* I paged back and forth a few times to make sure my choices were remembered. This appeared to work correctly. The machine apparently has better short-term memory than me (although that's not saying much).
* Low voter turnout, so my vote counts even more. </sarcasm>

Despite my skepticism about the system, I'm going to vote in Nov., for the first time in many years. It's an emergency this time.

[NYC]

25. I feel really bad for you.

I was fortunate enough to vote on our regular old voting machine. I fear electronic voting. I'm sorry you have it already.

[newyawker99]

27. Hi klook!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[klook]

31. Thanks, nice to be here.

Been lurking for a while, and am glad to be participating. This is a lively, informative forum. And delightfully biased. :+

[MidwestTransplant]

16. Some reporter needs to find out what Ms. Cox

got from Diebold.

[emalejim9]

3. Prelude to November.....

These SOB's are going to try to steal an election. Pondering....do I trust the governor of Florida to have a fair election???? Hell no!! We have time to centralize our attack on these machines and inform the masses.

[UpInArms]

6. welcome to DU emalejim9!

Here's hoping enough people awake before November :toast:

[newyawker99]

28. Hi emalejim9!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Bandit]

8. This just in Bush* won Democratic Primary

He will now be forced to run against himself. He should be able to do this without a hitch as he has a history of taking both sides of the issues.

[alittlelark]

26. Imagine his attack ads!!

Too funny!! :crazy: :crazy:

[FizzFuzz]

9. Bev Harris posted

a list here, for watchdogs to guard against.

My concern is, how many of those cautions can ordinary uninformed or semi-informed people actually carry out? I know I felt overwhelmed by the list. OK, checking to see if the damn thing was actually plugged in, that I can handle.......

If there were independent trouble-shooters present at every location, that would be ideal.......come to think of it, I don't trust them either...too many independent (cough-choke) investigations :hurts:

[colonel odis]

11. rove is thumbing his nose at the electorate

everyone said the machines were problems. today, they're giving lots of problems. and guess what? they won't be any better, come november.

i just wonder how bush will justify winning an election when the entire country realizes the voting was bullshit.

[jus_the_facts]

12. Because surely the SCOTUS will back him again....

.....like they did before...because it's just BEST for the country to just let it GO.....there should have been a revolution in 2000! :grr:

[Zhade]

20. "there should have been a revolution in 2000!"

Amen.

Our Founding Fathers probably rolled in their graves.

[mike1963]

13. NPR just reported many problems in San Diego,

heard in the car coming home from errands. :eyes:
Some people gave up waiting for them to 'reboot' the machines.

Said something about their Windoze operating systems...
:grr:

[BrotherBuzz]

14. Cripes, I feel violated after voting in California.

I live in a county that finally got touch screen (Diebold) voting. Easy to use till the very end when I gave the damn machine a summary command that only brought up a portion of what I had voted for. I brought this to the attention of a precinct worker that immediately 'took over' the machine, pressing special buttons, bringing up previous pages showing in plain view what/who I voted for and says, "yeah, it's not working". He put me on another machine that worked OK, but I feel my privacy was invaded... And heck, as I was leaving, someone else was using the same damn machine that wasn't working properly. Hmmm, could just a select number of machines be jigged to sway the results? I'm disappointed, I feel violated and disappointed. I may have to wrap myself with tinfoil.

[proud patriot]

15. Sorry to hear that BrotherBuzz

My dad had said the same thing about Alameda County .

"just didn't feel right" my dad .

[BrotherBuzz]

18. Yep, "just didn't feel right"

I have that empty feeling that my vote never even entered into the system. I filled out a questionnaire after I voted explaining my dissatisfaction in great length. I felt dumb after handing it to a lady worker who in turn handed it directly to the dude who helped me (oh, did I mention how he told me to calm down when he was "working the machine"?). I don't believe that questionnaire still exists and feel I need to write my county registrar directly. Harrumph!

[nodictators]

19. Alameda County had "only" 9% of their ballots uncounted...

...in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election. Bustamante won the county, but without a ballot review it's impossible to know whose votes were uncounted.

Alameda used the Diebold touchscreens.

N.B. If Bush "takes" California it's curtains for all of us.

[TroglodyteScholar]

17. More to come..

Thanks for the warm welcome, catzies...I hope to join the forefront on the fight for verifiable paper trails. When you change voting systems, the new system should be an improvement.

BrotherBuzz...I hate that you had a bad experience...and I get the feeling that you'll have a *lot* of fellow voters to relate to on the issue by the time the polls close today.

Believe I'll call my elected representatives & voice my displeasure. We've got to make some noise if we expect anything to change...and especially if we expect it to change by November.

[lazarus]

32. Same here in San Diego

And I caused a stink, too. Big stink.

[brook]

24. Problems in San Luis Obispo County, CA.

First they tried to palm off a non-partisan ballot on me...then when I handed my ballot to the woman at the machine, she said: "We're having problems with this machine. We may need to count the ballots by hand." At work, someone else said the machine rejected their ballot 3x before it took it. May not mean much - but it doesn't engender any warm fuzzies, either.