BBV: Recount requested, irregularity suspected in scanned ballots

[Robbien]

Override vote to be recounted

<snip>

For Question 1 of the two-question ballot, there were 55 blanks in the precinct of 928 voters. For Question 2, 68 ballots were recorded as blank, meaning the machine did not pick up on a yes or no vote.

<snip>

"Something is out of order there, but I don't know what it is," said Tekle. She suggested technical problems with the machinery as a possible cause, or voter error.

Tekle said the town had a couple of options: do nothing and wait 30 days before opening the boxes and checking the paper ballots; or initiate a petition that must be signed by at least 10 voters in the precinct by Friday at 5 p.m.

http://www.townonline.com/concord/news/local_regional/con_covcorecountp10022003.htm

Wonder if this recount will be allowed to happen.

[gristy]

1. Well, as the article says, even if all those "blanks" were

actually votes, the result still couldn't change. But this is a perfect example of WHY you need paper ballots. So you have something to go back and count when something goes wrong (and something ALWAYS goes wrong!).

But, I preach to the choir. Forgive me.

[shirlden]

2. This is New Hampshire

By all means the recount will take place. The must be using the optical scan machines, which are normally better than the Touch Screen. However, I recall reading in the Diebold memo's that the eye which reads the little dots can easily get out of alignment, but they never tell the customer about this possibility.

:argh:

[Robbien]

3. These are the machines that are going in my state.

I thought they were safer, but the BBV team told me that I couldn't count on that. They said the software is just as secretative as that in Diebold's touch screens.

What surprised me is that if a question was raised about the vote count, a recount wouldn't be as hard as this to obtain.

[BevHarris]

4. The Sequoia optical scan machines in Snohomish County lost a lot

It was very odd. They said it was because of the color of ink, but the machines did fine in Logic & Accuracy tests.

I attended a citizen meeting about it, because the machines had lost 21% of the votes -- I love the elderly folks. They are such tough cookies -- this one very-white-haired man had this set of questions:

"So, how many of these optical scan machines do you have, nationwide?"

She said about 1,500.

He said, "So how many times has this problem happened before?"

She said never.

He said "So how long have you had these machines out there in the field?"

She said since 1996 or so.

He said, "So you've had 1,500 machines in the field for six years and you've never had this problem before. Can you explain to me why two different machines in the same county got the same problem at the same time?"

She seemed confused and she said she had no idea.

===============

One more comment about senior citizens: We are noticing a disconnect between the local chapters of the League of Women Voters and the National position. The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) appears to have a similar disconnect. I have noticed that the shrewdest people, who are just impossible to hoodwink, at the voting meetings, are often the elderly.

I also noticed that we've been getting hits at http://www.blackboxvoting.com from the AARP forum -- do you know that senior citizens have been all over that board slamming these machines? It makes me wonder who the AARP thinks its representing when it fights the paper trail.

Bev Harris